Haugschlag/Austria – „I felt really sorry for David, that was surely hard for him. The 18 is a very difficult hole, where everything might happen.“ As Mathieu Decottignies Lafon entered the clubhouse as leader with 12 under par on Friday afternoon he didn’t expect to receive a trophy on that day. „After the first two rounds I was quite sure that the winner will have to score at least 15 under par; and I was far away from doing that.“ A pretty accurate guess: With 14 under par and a two-shot advance David Heinzinger arrived at the 18th tee. But due to heavy wind his ball found the water, a bad chip out of the drop-zone and three putts made him even miss the playoff.

Nevertheless, Decottignies Lafon can be proud of his performance: With 65 strokes the 25-year-old did not only share the days best round with Austrian Berni Reiter and German Max Kramer but also the best score of the whole event – even though he had to note three bogeys on 11, 14 and 18. „My long game was pretty good this week, I hit some solid iron shots and even my putts, that were far behind my expectations in the last time, were okay on these fantastic greens“, the Frenchman said. „I had to change a lot in my game, but that finally pays of now. I really hope that I’ll make it into the Top 5 at the end of the season.“

Currently, he’s reached the seventh rank after nine out of 20 tournaments this year. The next chance to earn some points and prize money will be at the EXTEC Trophy 2018 by ATOMIC Drinks, which will take place from May 11 to 13 at the Ypsilon Golf Resort in Liberec/Czech Republic.