Dan Bradbury moved into the final automatic qualifying position for the European Ryder Cup team with a dramatic victory at the FedEx Open de France.
The Englishman claimed his maiden win at last season's Joburg Open but entered the week on the outskirts of Paris just inside the top 100 on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and potentially facing a battle to retain his playing privileges over the final two regular events on the 2024 Race to Dubai.
And his victory at the 2018 Ryder Cup venue was not assured until the death, as he made a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th in a bogey-free 66 and then had to sit and wait after setting the target at 16 under.
Click here to see full rankings.
Over a dozen players had been in contention on the final day at Continental Europe's oldest national open and two of those, 2018 Ryder Cup winner Thorbjørn Olesen and England's Sam Bairstow, came up the last in the final group knowing a birdie would put them in a play-off.
The duo could only make a pair of pars, however, and Bradbury was left to celebrate a victory that extends his DP World Tour season.
“It hasn’t sunk in at all,” he said. “The goal this week was to make the cut so I didn’t have to go to Korea (needing to) keep my card.
“I remember looking at one point, playing with Gunner (Wiebe) and Joe (Dean), they were both two shots behind me and I was second and they were, like, 14th. Part of me was just thinking, ‘well, don’t drop a few!’.
“It was just, stay in it – we all know the finish round here, anything can happen, and it almost did.”
Bradbury - who will be making his Ryder Cup debut should he qualify for Bethpage - felt the tide turned his way on the 15th when he luckily avoided the water off the tee and went on to make birdie.
“Obviously got lucky off the tee, then just straight up pushed it – luckily it stayed on, and I hit a horrendous putt that went in!" he said.
“Sometimes you just need that. Once I’d done that it felt like, ‘there’s definitely something going for me’.”
Bradbury's entry on 274.95 points was not the only movement in the top six, with Dane Niklas Nørgaard finishing in a tie for 18th in France to move to third on 351.5 points.
Rasmus Højgaard remains on top of the qualification standings on 399.03 points ahead of Rory McIlroy (354.07), Nørgaard, Matt Wallace (350.5), Tyrrell Hatton (295.84) and Bradbury.
The qualification process will end at the DP World Tour tournament which concludes on Sunday August 24, 2025.
