Kaymer denies Westy in Paris

Kaymer: third European Tour win

Final leaderboard:
(GB & Ire unless stated)
M Kaymer (Ger) -13*
L Westwood -13
I Poulter -10
A Hansen (Den) -9
P Hanson (Swe) -9
* Kaymer wins play-off

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Martin Kaymer held his nerve to edge out Lee Westwood at the first hole of a play-off to claim the French Open title at Le Golf National on Sunday.

In the process the 24-year-old chalked up a third European Tour victory and became the first German since Bernhard Langer some 25 years ago to win France's national championship.

Kaymer and Westwood finished locked together on 13-under-par after 72 holes, the Englishman closing with a superlative 65 and his rival carding a 68 to join him in the play-off.

After both hit poor drives going back down 18 for the first extra hole, Westwood saw his hopes all but disappear as he found water with his second.

Kaymer's own approach had only just cleared the hazard, but the German showed real composure to get down in two to close out victory in the €4 million event.

Ian Poulter shot a final round of 67 to finish on his own at ten-under, while Anders Hansen of Denmark and Swede Peter Hanson shared fourth one shot further back.

Overnight leader Rafael Echenique endured a nightmare finish to his final round with triple-bogey sevens at 15 and 18 forcing him to settle for a share of 13th some eight shots back on five-under.

The Argentine had started the day one clear of Kaymer, but the German pulled level with him on 12-under-par with his second birdie of the day at the sixth hole.

Incredible putting run

Both men subsequently bogeyed the seventh, but Kaymer then embarked on an incredible putting run as he sunk three putts of a combined distance of around 150 feet to notch birdies at the eighth, ninth and tenth.

That saw him streak clear of playing partner Echenique, but not Westwood who kept pace with the German after a remarkable sequence of his own that yielded birdies at nine, 11, 12 and 13.

Both men then erred, poor drives resulting in bogeys at 12 (Kaymer) and 14 (Westwood) respectively to drop them back to -13, but they remained some way clear of the field.

Westwood parred home, making a crucial putt at 17 to set the clubhouse target, but Kaymer missed a number of chances to edge back ahead with presentable birdie opportunities spurned at 14, 15, 16 and most notably from six feet on 17.

However, he showed admirable nerve to make his par down the last to force the play-off, then took full advantage when Westwood's ball found a watery grave at the first extra hole.

Special

The delighted German stated afterwards: "This is obviously very special for me. I had some good chances, but finally I won it, so it's good."

Westwood, who missed out on a first victory since the British Masters in September 2007, was pleased with his efforts despite his challenge ultimately ending in disappointment.

"Martin's ball has carried the water by a foot and mine must have went in by a foot," he said. "That's the chance you take in play-offs.

"You can't judge the week by that and I certainly can't be disappointed by anything after the way I played today.

"I was delighted with my putting today. I had 31 putts for the first three rounds and that's just not good enough, but I putted a lot better today and that's just what I need to do.

"If I can carry that on then I will be winning events by a couple of shots and not going to play-offs. It is a good time to start playing well."

Colin Montgomerie, runner-up last year, missed out on his first top-ten finish since that result as he closed with two bogeys and a double-bogey in his final four holes - eventually ending up in a tie for 13th.