Thomas Levet wins Alstom Open de France

Thomas Levet secured a memorable home victory in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National, Paris. The 42-year-old won by a single stroke from England's Mark Foster and Thorbjorn Oleson of Denmark.

Levet posted a solid final round of 70 to hold firm as many of the other leading protagonists stumbled around the testing Golf National layout. Levet became only the second French winner of the tournament since it became part of the European Tour schedule in 1972 - Jean Francois Remesy won back-to-back in 2004 and 2005.

"All of my friends were here in the crowd. It's always nice to win in front of your home crowd," he said. "The way it went today was just like in a dream."

It was an emotional victory for Levet whose mother has been ill since Christmas.

"I was thinking about her a lot because she could not come to the French Open for the first time in 20 something years," he explained. "She is probably watching TV crying, basically, she won't believe it that I won. It's a pleasure."

Englishmen Mark Foster and James Morrison shared the lead through 54 holes but both struggled on the final day. Foster held it together until the 12th when a double-bogey put pay to his chances. Morrison started bogey, double bogey and was never able to get into the round. Scotland's Richie Ramsay also faltered down the stretch and posted a closing 76 to finish in a tie for fifth.

Germany's Martin Kaymer fired a disappointing closing round of 73 to end the week in fourth place, but he'll be able to console himself with the fact the performance was good enough for him to regain the World Number 3 position from Rory McIlroy.

Alstom Open de France Le Golf National, Paris, France Jun 30 - Jul 3 Purse: €3,000,000, par 71

1   Thomas Levet (Fra)   70   70   67   70   277   €500,000 T2   Mark Foster (Eng)   68   68   68   74   278   €260,565 T2   Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 66   71   71   70   278   €260,565 4   Martin Kaymer (Ger)   71   69   67   73   280   €150,000 T5   Simon Khan (Eng)   70   70   70   71   281   €116,100 T5   Richie Ramsay (Sco)   60   68   68   76   281   €116,100 T7   James Morrison (Eng)   66   66   72   78   282   €77,400 T7   Hennie Otto (RSA)   69   71   71   71   282   €77,400 T7   Brendan Steele (USA)   74   70   67   71   282   €77,400 10   Anthony Wall (Eng)   68   73   69   73   283   €60,000

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only