Levet’s win a boost for Baltray
Levet and Michael Campbell, the man he beat by a shot in a dramatic finish on the bonnie, bonnie banks, are both headed for Baltray.
Levet was seven off the pace at the start of the day but stormed home in a superb six under par 29 strokes to set a scorching pace on 15 under par that Campbell and Ernie Els and David Howell, both of whom tied for 3rd on 13 under were unable to match.
In all, Levet included an eagle and seven birdies in his round including the clincher at the 18th to claim the biggest win of his career.
To add further lustre to his achievement, he picked up the one available qualifying spot for this week's Open Championship. He was not previously exempt. The significance of this was more than a little apparent as this genial and fun loving character emotionally spoke of how much it meant to him to compete in the event having lost in a four man play-off to Els in the 2002 Championship.
"This is the most exciting thing", he declared. "A win is superb and exciting but playing in the Open is something else again. People have good memories of Muirfield and so do I. You don't have to be disappointed at losing to a man like Ernie. You just live with it.
"I have no plans made for Troon, nothing booked, I have no shirts so I will go home and come back again. When you play like I did today, it is a dream come true. I said to Graeme McDowell at breakfast that I'd need a 63 to win and that's what I've done although at the time it seemed that it would be more like 55. I played terrible golf in Ireland last week and in France the week before but this week I've gone from zero confidence to thinking I can play this game.
"Every shot I was trying to play came off. On days like these, you know you are going to score well. It means you are not afraid to go for pins, you go for broke, like the last. I knew I didn't need a par, I didn't need a bogey, I needed a birdie or nothing.
"My caddy (Owen Craig from Belfast) and I decided to hit the drive straight left over the water and I just pulled out my best drive of the week.
"The second shot was the perfect yardage, 151 yards for an eight iron, so I just told myself to go straight at it, forget about everything, wind, distance, just hit the shot and that is
what I did."
And then with a broad smile, he joked: "When I won in Cannes in '98, my son was born. When I won the British Masters in 2001, my daughter was born. Now my wife is pregnant again so I think I'll just keep making kids. When I get to twelve, I will have a football team and a referee."
The decisive approach shot at the 18th came to rest three feet from the pin but it wasn't a done deal just yet. A reversing buggy broke through the deadly silence that had gripped the thousands of onlookers ringing the green and caused Levet, who likes to play quickly, to back off the putt. "The noise was in my head", he said. "I waited for the guy to stop, stay in the routine and make the putt."
He did just that, much to the delight of a crowd who had clearly taken the Frenchman to their hearts. Remarkably, Levet made only 50% of the fairways but he had an 80% average for greens hit and used just ten of his 26 putts on the back nine.
It's been a remarkable year for French golf, whose own Open was captured by Jean-Francois Remesy. Christian Cevaer triumphed in the Spanish Open while Philippe Lima won the St Omer Open although Gregory Havret, joint leader going into the final day here, fell away with a closing round of 74. Levet also lost in a play-off to Ireland's Graeme McDowell in the Italian Open and his prize of 545,209 makes him a prime contender for the European Ryder Cup team in September.
"He is up to 7th in the European points list. This represented his fifth top ten finish of the season and he has jumped to 3rd place behind Retief Goosen and Ernie Els in the order of merit with 994, 291.
Michael Campbell, the reigning Irish Open champion, made a great attempt for a birdie on the 18th to draw level with Levet but the ball just slipped by on the low side. Like Levet, his confidence is sky high after four very solid days at Loch Lomond.
"It's been almost a year since the Irish so it is nice to be up there. I didn't win but I really enjoyed today."
Campbell's considerable consolation was a cheque for 363,472.
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