Alexander Levy smiles his way to China Open

Frenchman Alexander Levy shows his delight at winning the China Open in Shenzen, his maiden European Tour victory. Picture: Reuters

Rather than get down over what could have been a costly mistake, the 23-year-old Frenchman recovered with back-to-back birdies on his final two holes to capture his maiden European Tour title by four strokes over Tommy Fleetwood.

The smile, he said, was the key to victory. “You need to take the pleasure on the golf course and keep the smile because if you are upset about a missed shot or not lucky, it’s not good to have this feeling on the golf course,” he said. “You need to enjoy and have the smile.”

Levy, playing in just his second year on the tour, vaulted into the lead with a career-best ten-under 62 in the second round and looked to be headed for a runaway victory after making a birdie on the 13th to extend his lead to five shots. But then he ran into trouble on the par-4 15th. After hitting his approach shot well past the green, he putted from the fringe and sent the ball off the other side of the green. He chipped back to the green and two-putted for a double bogey, allowing Fleetwood back within two strokes.

Fleetwood, playing in the group ahead of Levy, then tightened the pressure further with a birdie on the par-5 17th to pull another shot back. Levy responded, however, with a flawless 3-iron approach shot over a lake on the same hole to set up a three-foot birdie putt.

After Fleetwood bogeyed the 18th, Levy sealed the win by dropping another perfectly placed approach shot three feet from the pin for another birdie. He shot a final-round 69 for a 19-under 269 overall.

“I had to play outstanding golf, but Alex has led from  Friday, and that’s one of the hardest things you can do,” Fleetwood said. “What a  performance from him.”

Levy has faltered under pressure before. Last year, he was tied with Ernie Els entering the final round of the BMW International Open in Munich but let the title slip away with four bogeys on the back nine. He ended up in third, his previous best result on the tour. Since then, however, he said he’s been inspired by the success of his good friend and compatriot, Victor Dubuisson, who beat Tiger Woods to win his first European Tour title at the Turkish Airlines Open in November and then was runner-up to Jason Day at the Match Play Championship in February.

Fleetwood was second at 15 under and Alvaro Quiros of Spain was third, another two strokes back. No 3-ranked  Henrik Stenson, who was bedridden with the flu earlier this week, finally put together his first solid round of the tournament, with seven birdies and no bogeys for a 65. The Swede improved to joint fifth place but still fell short of the win he needed to overtake Tiger Woods at the top of the world rankings.

PGA champion Jason Dufner opened with a birdie-eagle on his first two holes before slipping back to joint 54th with two double bogeys and a triple bogey on the 17th.