Matt Fitzpatrick seals French Open victory for fourth title of season

Matt Fitzpatrick won the French Open by three shots at Le Golf National in Paris, collecting his fourth title of the season after a final-round 70. According to BBC Sport, the Englishman finished on 20 under par, with Spain's Angel Hidalgo his closest challenger on 17 under. The victory also gave Fitzpatrick his 11th European Tour title.

The 32-year-old began the final day with a five-shot advantage, but his lead narrowed during a long stretch without a birdie. Fitzpatrick made par at each of the opening 12 holes, allowing the players behind him to close the gap to two shots. That left a much smaller cushion as he moved into the final six holes, despite having avoided any dropped shots to that point.

Birdies at the 13th and 15th provided the decisive response. Those gains increased his advantage and meant a bogey on the final hole did not prevent him from completing the win. His one-under-par closing round was enough to keep Hidalgo at a distance, converting the lead he had carried into Sunday into a three-stroke winning margin.

Speaking after the round, Fitzpatrick described a difficult day in which his best golf arrived after the opening 12 holes, BBC Sport reported. He also acknowledged that some of his missed shots had left him in favourable positions to recover. His assessment reflected a round built first on maintaining his score, before the two back-nine birdies gave him more room over the closing holes.

The French Open success follows three victories on the PGA Tour this season. Fitzpatrick had already won the Valspar Championship and RBC Heritage, along with the Zurich Classic team event in New Orleans, where he partnered his younger brother Alex. The result in Paris added an individual European Tour title to that collection of wins.

Elsewhere on the leaderboard, France's Matthieu Pavon produced the lowest round of the day, a seven-under-par 64. He finished on 15 under alongside compatriot Tom Vaillant, Spain's Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra and Norway's Kristoffer Reitan. Sweden's Ludvig Aaberg ended on 12 under, while Ewen Ferguson and Dan Bradbury finished on 10 under.