Levy captures his second Volvo China Open after play-off

BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 30:  Alexander Levy of France holds the trophy celebrates after winning the 2017 Volvo China Open at Topwin Golf and Country Club on April 30, 2017 in Beijing, China.  (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Alexander Levy became the first man to win the Volvo China Open twice as he defeated Dylan Frittelli in a play-off at Topwin Golf and Country Club.

The 2014 champion began the final round seven shots behind the overnight leader but birdied the last in a 67 to get to 17 under and force a play-off.

In search of a maiden European Tour victory, Frittelli sent his second shot into the last over the hospitality tent and had to settle for a par, a closing 74 and a trip back up the 18th.

Levy found the fairway off the tee while Frittelli sent his drive right into a bunker but after the Frenchman found sand with his second, both men were left with birdie putts. Frittelli missed his attempt and Levy rolled home from 15 feet to claim victory and a perfect birthday present for caddie Tom Ayling.

The triumph offers Levy some redemption after he lost a play-off in China at the 2014 BMW Masters and hands him his second consecutive victory via a play-off after his win at the Porsche European Open in September.

Pablo Larrazábal began the day as Frittelli's closest challenger and the Spaniard signed for a closing 72 to finish at 16 under, a shot clear of Austrian Bernd Wiesberger and England's Chris Wood.

Wiesberger - last week's winner after a play-off in Shenzhen - carded a closing 67 with Wood signing for a 68. Meanwhile, YE Yang - the 2010 champion - recorded the round of the day in a 66 to join Ross Fisher at 14 under, a shot clear of George Coetzee and two ahead of Jorge Campillo and Soomin Lee. 

Alexander Levy

"That's an amazing feeling to be back in the winner's circle. On the 12th I saw the leaderboard and I was four shots behind and I came onto 15 and saw it was only one shot and I was really surprised. At that moment I started thinking I can win this tournament.

"This means a lot because it was the first tournament I won on the European Tour. I won last year after a bad injury and to come back with the win was very tough for me. I'm really happy with what I did today.

"Happy birthday to my caddie because it's his birthday today and I think it's a really good present.

"It's a goal and a dream for me to play the Ryder Cup in France. I will do a lot of work to play the Ryder Cup and I will do my best to be part of the team."

Dylan Frittelli

“It stings a little bit. I let it go there in the end but I’m still proud of the way I played this week, it’s a great result – 17 under par on this golf course is nothing to scoff at – proud of Alex, he played well there to come back. Most people probably thought I had it in the bag with 18 holes to go but he stuck to it and played well there in the playoff.

It was tough for me to get motivated, I had a three or four shot lead at one stage and I was trying to make birdies but I couldn’t get them to go. A couple mistakes on the back nine, with two bad breaks, but I’ll take the good and the bad, and definitely work on getting in there and getting in contention later down the season. I’m sure I’m going to win hopefully this season – that would be a great goal to achieve.

“I am hoping to have a very long career so I’m not going to let this get me down or be upset with anything, Alex played well to win and he won the tournament with the birdie in the play-off, so I will take that out of it.

Pablo Larrazábal

“It’s tough to describe, when they open the door of the tournament so many times, and it was like a theme that I couldn’t get in.

“Only one birdie until 18 - a putt that I missed for an eagle of nine foot – nothing was getting in, all the good putts where going short and all the opportunities I had for birdie I couldn’t make.

“I’m not disappointed because I try my best and my best today was level par and to finish one short, but when you give your best you have to be happy and it’s one of those days where on the flight tonight I will be pretty sad.

“To shoot eight under par and six under par in two rounds, and be leading the tournament by a few going into the weekend is very positive. At the Trophee Hassan I had a chance to win and I shot two over par, today I had probably the best chance in a very long time and I couldn’t perform, so there is a lot to learn.

“I know I am going to win soon, but we cannot go two over par in Morocco and level par today to win golf tournaments. You have to make birdies to win a golf tournament and I didn’t do that today.

Chris Wood

“It was pretty good, lots of good signs but when you get close to winning its hard. When you don’t really give yourself a good chance and a push but a couple of things just didn’t go my way but I played nice.

“It’s probably as nice as I have played over the season really, getting the scores as well, but to shoot a consistent week of scores and rounds is good.

Final Round Scores:

271 A Levy (Fra) 63 70 71 67, D Frittelli (RSA) 70 63 64 74,

272 P Larrazábal (Esp) 64 66 70 72,

273 C Wood (Eng) 72 68 65 68, B Wiesberger (Aut) 69 68 69 67,

274 R Fisher (Eng) 73 70 64 67, Y Yang (Kor) 69 68 71 66,

275 G Coetzee (RSA) 67 69 71 68,

276 J Campillo (Esp) 68 70 70 68, S Lee (Kor) 69 65 73 69,

277 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 66 71 67, L Haotong (Chn) 69 71 67 70,

278 M Hendry (Nzl) 72 67 71 68, J Walters (RSA) 71 70 68 69, K Moon (Kor) 69 71 66 72, B Hebert (Fra) 70 72 66 70, R Jacquelin (Fra) 67 71 71 69,

279 J Quesne (Fra) 74 68 69 68, R Karlberg (Swe) 69 71 71 68, D Fichardt (RSA) 69 71 72 67, B Stone (RSA) 70 71 70 68, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 70 73 68 68, R Paratore (Ita) 74 68 68 69,

280 C Yi (Chn) 68 72 67 73, J Carlsson (Swe) 70 70 68 72, J Van Zyl (RSA) 68 69 71 72, D Lipsky (USA) 69 71 69 71, R Wattel (Fra) 72 71 66 71, R Cho (Kor) 72 70 67 71, W Ashun (Chn) 71 70 68 71,

281 J Luiten (Ned) 68 69 76 68, P Uihlein (USA) 72 66 71 72, J Morrison (Eng) 67 74 68 72, T Olesen (Den) 71 67 70 73, F Zanotti (Par) 71 67 73 70,

282 M Ilonen (Fin) 70 70 69 73, S Walker (Eng) 69 74 70 69, S Chawrasia (Ind) 71 72 68 71, M Manassero (Ita) 70 70 72 70, R Gouveia (Por) 74 67 67 74, N Elvira (Esp) 73 70 70 69,

283 P Angles (Esp) 70 68 71 74, G Storm (Eng) 69 68 75 71, M Southgate (Eng) 71 72 69 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 72 66 71 74, M Siem (Ger) 71 70 74 68, P Peterson (USA) 69 69 71 74,

284 F Aguilar (Chi) 73 67 72 72, J Norris (Aus) 70 73 66 75, B Dredge (Wal) 72 68 72 72, B Ritthammer (Ger) 70 67 74 73, S Brazel (Aus) 73 70 67 74, T Jaidee (Tha) 72 71 67 74, T Detry (Bel) 70 66 73 75, R Rock (Eng) 72 70 72 70,

285 C Paisley (Eng) 73 70 67 75, L Bjerregaard (Den) 71 72 70 72, D Howell (Eng) 71 71 69 74,

286 J Wang (Kor) 73 66 74 73, B Rumford (Aus) 71 71 70 74, Y Wo-Cheng (Chn) 74 69 73 70,

287 R Ramsay (Sco) 71 72 72 72, S Zi-Han (Chn) 73 70 75 69,

289 J Choi (Kor) 69 70 74 76,

290 D Burmester (RSA) 67 70 73 80, M Guyatt (Aus) 72 71 72 75, 

294 W Hongfu (Chn) 72 70 76 76, 

RET P Hanson (Swe) 67 71 RT 0,

CUT

144 G Bourdy (Fra) 76 68 0 0, H Wen-Yi (Chn) 71 73 0 0, F Shiyu (Chn) 73 71 0 0, R Karlsson (Swe) 70 74 0 0, C Pigem (Esp) 74 70 0 0, S Gallacher (Sco) 71 73 0 0, T Rongjian (Chn) 73 71 0 0, N Cullen (Aus) 74 70 0 0, G Stal (Fra) 73 71 0 0, A Cañizares (Esp) 71 73 0 0, D Drysdale (Sco) 71 73 0 0, R Langasque (Fra) 73 71 0 0, S Dong (Chn) 71 73 0 0, L Slattery (Eng) 75 69 0 0, R Fox (Nzl) 70 74 0 0, J Smith (Eng) 69 75 0 0, 

145 J Singh (Ind) 73 72 0 0, R Bland (Eng) 74 71 0 0, M Carlsson (Swe) 74 71 0 0, H Porteous (RSA) 74 71 0 0, N Tantipokhakul (Tha) 74 71 0 0, A Otaegui (Esp) 70 75 0 0, J Kaske (Fin) 71 74 0 0, N Sae-Ueng (Tha) 75 70 0 0, G Bhullar (Ind) 74 71 0 0, X Bowen (Chn) 75 70 0 0, M Kieffer (Ger) 69 76 0 0, A Knappe (Ger) 72 73 0 0, Y Kim (Kor) 74 71 0 0, D McKenzie (Aus) 73 72 0 0, 

146 S Hend (Aus) 76 70 0 0, J Da-Xing (Chn) 74 72 0 0, A Wall (Eng) 71 75 0 0, M Sim (Aus) 75 71 0 0, T Bjørn (Den) 74 72 0 0, 

147 L Yan Wei (Chn) 70 77 0 0, M Korhonen (Fin) 74 73 0 0, B Kim (Kor) 76 71 0 0, S Kim (Kor) 76 71 0 0, A Dodt (Aus) 72 75 0 0, J Scrivener (Aus) 75 72 0 0, L Xin-Yang (Chn) 77 70 0 0, A Björk (Swe) 73 74 0 0, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 73 74 0 0, W Dongyu (Chn) 76 71 0 0, 

148 G Kim (Kor) 77 71 0 0, W Zi-Ting (Chn) 74 74 0 0, S Jeffress (Aus) 76 72 0 0, C Zi-Hao (Chn) 71 77 0 0, E Molinari (Ita) 74 74 0 0, H Shao-Cai (Chn) 78 70 0 0, Y Jian-Feng (Chn) 77 71 0 0, 

149 J Lagergren (Swe) 75 74 0 0, N Bertasio (Ita) 75 74 0 0, 

150 G Havret (Fra) 80 70 0 0, R Dillon (USA) 77 73 0 0, Z Hui-Lin (Chn) 78 72 0 0, C Shinkwin (Eng) 71 79 0 0, Y Hao (Chn) 73 77 0 0, M Baldwin (USA) 77 73 0 0, J Zunic (Aus) 73 77 0 0, 

151 Y Tian (Chn) 80 71 0 0, L Xue-Wen (Chn) 75 76 0 0, H Ze-Yu (Chn) 75 76 0 0, L Lu Sen (Tpe) 75 76 0 0, 

152 W Chang-Wei (Chn) 78 74 0 0, Z Junbin (Chn) 77 75 0 0, 

153 D Chen Xiao (Chn) 76 77 0 0, B Snyder (USA) 73 80 0 0, O Zheng (Chn) 78 75 0 0, M Mikura (am) (Jpn) 74 79 0 0, 

154 Y Yi-Nong (Chn) 78 76 0 0, T Kim (Kor) 79 75 0 0, 

155 L Tighe (Aus) 76 79 0 0, L Ding-Feng (Chn) 78 77 0 0, Z Jin (Chn) 79 76 0 0, C Yilong (Chn) 78 77 0 0, 

156 Z Lianwei (Chn) 76 80 0 0, 

158 W Wei-Huang (Chn) 79 79 0 0, N Holman (Aus) 77 81 0 0, Z Zhu (Chn) 81 77 0 0, 

159 Z Zi-Hong (Chn) 81 78 0 0, 

160 C Ding-Gen (Chn) 79 81 0 0, 

161 H Ren (Chn) 81 80 0 0, 

162 C Hai-Meng (Chn) 86 76 0 0, 

WD/RT   L Jensen (Den) 76 WD, L Yuxin (Chn) 83 RT, L Chun (Chn) RT.