Alexander Lévy is determined to regain the form that lead to 5 victories on the DP World Tour. We get to know the host venue, Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil a bit better. Joel Moscatel becomes the 3rd two-time winner on the Challenge Tour this season.
this is one of sports great Proving Grounds a gateway to Glory brilli 29 tournaments spanning 19 countries along the way a chance to expand Horizons and Sample life on tour how beautiful is that magic finish the season in the top 20 on the road to mayorca rankings and secure a golden ticket to the DB World Tour this is the challenge tour [Music] the challenge tour has been providing a pathway for players to achieve greatness for well over three [Music] decades during that time many a challenge tour graduate has reached the Pinnacle of the sport all of them are clear though about its importance to their career I mean I learned a lot of on the challenge tour and I’m really pleased that I had a full year on the challenge tour and when you’re in top 20 on on the challenge tour you’re good enough to be on the main tour so you you just need to know that and take all that confidence with you when you play so good over a [Applause] year over here it’s uh you become a more well rounded golfer there’s a lot of opportunity over here and you want to be a global Superstar you know when you’re [Applause] playing I thought it was a great step for me to get competitive you know you get out there you have to play four rounds every day every time and you know there’s so many guys who can [Music] play it’s huge it’s a reading ground for the European tour and in the world stage it’s somewhere obviously I was I was delighted I got the chance to play on um and I felt it it did set me up well for coming on here it’s so tough and challenging so competitive but um at the same time I I loved it and it was so you know new and fresh I mean it only took me a year to get off it CU it is such a difficult sour to to get off with the amount of young players that are coming through now and everybody’s so hungry so but no I I loved every minute it might be an enjoyable experience but the Lessons Learned are invaluable and the caliber of golf of graduating is impressive the tour has produced eight major winners boasting 13 major titles between them fire the likes of Brooks kka Justin Rose and Trevor IML and that just draws the line under one of the great Ridder cups 34 former challenge tour players have gone on to play in the Ryder Cup including half of the Victorious European team from Rome 2117 graduates have between them won 58 3 DP World Tour titles five of those have come courtesy of Alexander Levy the Frenchman played on the challenge tour more than a decade ago but he’s back again this season uh golf can go really quick in your way and in the H way so I’m waiting to go back where I used to be and uh I will see what what happened I’m looking [Music] forward I know what is the frustration to to lose your car and at the end you still the same human and you still happy I still happy playing golf so it don’t make you a bad person to lose your card I think at the end it’s just a game and some days you you good and days you not but you try to you try every day to get good and uh that’s [Music] it Alex was maybe less than 20 years old just a bit before that and after that we we get uh a good fit so Alex was one of of those guys coming and we had a lot of fun playing cards and playing the courses for for sure I do help let’s say 10 or 11 or 12 players each year mostly people who start on the the mini tours and uh when they pick up when they go to the DP World Tour I stop because then they have enough money here to to to have their season I’ve been really lucky Julian gerer introduced me joh clae in 2012 I think when I was I just get my card on tour and joh clae helped me and uh yeah we had a really good relation and uh yeah Jean Claud is really generous uh person really nice family and uh yeah I I wish a lot of people can be like him because he’s really really good [Music] person I’m happy to be here is a good golf course and uh yeah I’m happy to be at home but it never worked for me in my way so I’m looking uh to play one time to win a tournament in France it never happen so I’m looking forward for that Felix what comes to mind when I say Alexander Levy crazy no I love Alexander he’s such a nice guy he’s always sharing good tips and he’s an amazing guy best training of the [Applause] day he’s the same guy than when I met him 16 years ago and that’s what is’s really lovable for Alex he’s uh he’s always trying to share any tips any advice any things he he went through he’s not shy about like sharing what he’s been through and he’s really helpful with the younger guys Alex Le is the big star of friends he yeah it’s a it’s a good friend of me he play very great I think uh he can go back on the European tour for [Music] sure and so to day one of the 11th staging of the Lavo drawing golf challenge in the previous 10 editions there hadn’t been a Frenchman to lift the trophy so perhaps some pressure to do just that on Levy’s shoulders as he got into game mode before his afternoon tea off where he would be paired alongside the Danish Duo of heish brown and Rasmus nard Peterson Alexander but it wasn’t to be the best of starts for Levy as the Frenchmen teed off at the 10th he quickly took a step backwards with bogy at the 11th and his frustration began to [Music] show better news came at the 15th a bounce back birdie it brought Levy back to P unable to gather any momentum though another bogey came on his Inwood n at the fourth although that was rectified by a birdie on the eth despite that a very up and down day for Levy he would eventually sign for a level par round of 72 eight shots off the lead and tied 58th time for an honest assessment of of that opening day average some good and some bad no I didn’t play my best but I managed myself to shoot level bar so I’m pretty proud of this yeah I do some uh nice peanut butter uh banana sandwiches my C find the best way to carry it is to put in a tiess box and he works pretty [Music] well early on day two and Levy looking for an improvement in fortunes but it wasn’t to be the start he was looking [Music] for a double bogey on the second hole followed by a bogey on the third and already throwing shots away though at least there was still time to steady the ship bouncing back quickly Levy managed to Birdie on the fourth [Music] hole though he still had work to do to finish on the right side of the cut line there was a birdie on the eth but the frustration was still clear as Levy found himself still on the the wrong side of par with the back nine to [Music] come elsewhere Wilco Nara was making a move three under for the day playing the par five [Music] 15th a two- putt birdie for the South African and he would finish on 10 under ending the day in a share of the lead [Applause] Levy made a move in the right direction on his back nine three birdies coming home saw him move to two underpar weekend golf secured and ready to go really pleased with my round I start dou on the second and Bo on thir and from there I manage myself I say okay four five re in two so four birdies uh and is what I did so I’m really pleased with that I I will say I’m not in my a game but in this moment you learn the most on you on you I try to to get better day after day you know how this game it can go so quick in both ways so keep patient and uh we see what [Music] happen coming up we go behind the scenes at the Lavo dry L of things that to be done I thought it was a good challenge so I did it and we reveal who came out on top in this year’s edition of the tournament see you [Music] shortly welcome back to the challenge tour we’re in France this week for the 11th edition of the Lavo dry golf challenge some of the game’s brightest stars have their names et on this trophy American Brinson palini won the inaugural edition of the tournament in [Music] [Applause] [Music] 2013 two years later though it was the turn of at that stage a little known New Zealander by the name of Ryan Fox to emerge Victorious fox has since gone on to bag four victories on the DP World Tour including last year’s BMW PGA Championship at [Music] Wentworth Aaron Ry took an obvious liking to this event he finished runner up in 2016 before finally getting his hands on the silverware a year later that was his third victory of the season on the challenge tour and earned him automatic promotion to the DP World Tour his greatest Triumph came in 2020 when he got the better of Tommy Fleetwood in a playoff to clinch the Scottish open his first Rolex series title and arguably one of the most popular winners of this event has been Marcel seene the German won here in 2021 on route to regaining his DP world tour playing [Music] privileges team hasn’t looked back since he won his fifth title on the DP World Tour in his 501st start at the hero Indian open last season proof that winning the laod dry golf challenge can be the springboard required to propel a golfer to even greater [Music] Heights who would follow in the footsteps of the likes of fox Ryan SE this time round though remember after 36 holes at the Lavo Roy it was a three-way tire at the top with bessling n and Jeff Guan holding a three shot Advantage kit Alexander saw Moving Day Joe moscatel got moving well early the challenge the ESP spia winner earlier this year at Bird’s at two and three and this one at eight saw him out in 32 bessling made a slow start with a bogy at the first but he got it back at the eighth as this moved him to minus 10 George Mason has only made one cut this year but he found some form here in France This brilliant Approach at 14 led to one of seven birdies in a 67 that moved him to minus 10 road to mea number three Alex Levy tapped this one in at the ninth for par his final hole of the day for a 70 in round three [Applause] 38-year old Dutchman bessling [Music] popped this one in to move to minus 11 and he added another at 15 there were more gains for moscatel at 11 and 14 they set up a birdie at the 15th that took him to minus 12 bogy at 16 and birdie at 18 for a 66 for him and besseling dropped a shot at 16 but finished with a birdie at the final hole for a 70 to tie the lead so after day three Phil bessling was joined at the top by Joel moscatel as Wilco nara’s hopes faded away after a crushing 77 while the French Duo of Benjamin abar and Felix muray would be hoping for a final day push on home [Music] soil the Lavo dry golf challenge is one of the most popular stops on tour and with its many unique features it’s not hard to see why the man with the vision behind the event was jeanclaude Forest these golf used to belong to a family with is n children so they had difficulties to pick up the place so it was a bit a bit down when uh when we bought it so a lot of things had to be done I thought it was a good challenge so I I did it we had to redo a lot of stuff like uh irrigation was an old system so we had to change that all over it was a pleasure to pick up the place and also uh we try to have some small groups coming and staying around or staying in the on site itself so rebuilt a few and U refurnished a few houses we have like a Villas and there are for accommodation as [Music] well the challenge tour coming here it’s quite a uh an event and uh uh it’s something for me very important to have a tournament uh I love the the professional game and uh and also it’s a good uh lightning Lighting on the uh on the course and on the on the site so it’s a great Revo every year and I want to stick to that as long as I [Music] can well with 18 holes to go at the 2024 Edition we were about to learn which name would join an impressive list of past winners Dutchman Vil bessling and Spain’s Joel muskel started the day two shots clear but there were plenty in contention to catch them and Keen to join the role of Honor so let’s rejoin kit as the laod dry golf challenge reached its finale Frenchman Benjamin a bear started the final round three shots back but this delightful approach into the tight front right pin at the first set up a birdie and he would had another at the fourth will bessling had three birdies in the first seven holes including here at the second but he played the rest of the round in two over part to shoot a 71 sha moscatel saved here with this long putt at the second rattled into the back of the hole but he Bogi the sick to go over par for the round and back to minus 11 for the tournament moscat Tel’s first pickup of the day came at the eighth as he birdied it for the fourth successive round courtesy of this excellent bunker shot hey bear had birdies at 12 and 13 and this one at the par R 5 15th moved him to minus33 [Music] moscatel also birdy 12 and 13 and he made this vital pass save at the [Applause] 15th hey bear had a birdie at 16 a bogey at 177 and this excellent third shot set up a birdie at the final hole for the Frenchmen as he posted 14 under par moscatel knocked it on the par five 18th into and he had this Eagle P for the win it didn’t drop but he did tap in for the birdie to take it to a playoff 14 underpar moscatel and hay bear they headed back out to the PA 310 for the sudden death playoff the Spaniard knocked this beautiful IR shot Into the Heart of the green heyar was in the greenside sand off the T but he caught this recovery bunker shot a bit heavy and left it short so moscatel had this birdie P for the win it just squeaked by on the low side but he was safely in for the three that meant hey bear had to hold this P to extend the playoff he couldn’t make the three and Joel moscatel picked up his second challenge tour victory of the season so as with last year it took extra time to settle the issue and decide our champion bill bessling came up just one short short along with George Mason and Kim Vidal whilst Benjamin AAR was so close to becoming the first French winner of the event but this time the spoils went to Spain’s Joel [Music] moscatel still nervous but more G here really happy uh on the back nine I promise I was more nervous than on the first te but yeah I’m really I’m really happy that the way I played the way the way I fight cuz today was not easy and then the 10th hole on the playoff the same amazing shot and good B that didn’t go in but yes I mean it’s [Music] amazing a look at the road to my Yorker rankings now then and Joel moscatels win means he’s now in third spot overtaking and man Alex Levy who ended up tied 34th in France Andreas helverson was the only other mover in a positive direction nudging up to 10th position further down and Benjamin a bear’s Runners up play sees him up to 12th ahead of the Englishman Sam hsby and David Horsey the French flag is also being flown by David retto and Martin K with Garrick porus currently sat in that all important 20th spot sadly that brings to an end our time in France for another season there’s a 2 we break now for the class of 2024 before reconvening in Austria at one of the most spectacular venues we visit all year so join us next time then as the pursuit of promotion to the DP World Tour continues [Music]
