Rory McIlroy failed to fire and had to settle for third place as Thongchai Jaidee romped to a four-shot victory in the 100th French Open at Golf National yesterday.
 Thailand’s Thongchai went into the final round with a two-stroke lead and a fantastic three-under-par 68 helped him easily hold off the chasing pack on 11-under par. The 46-year-old went 39 holes without a bogey on the challenging Albatros course, until he opted for safety on the 72nd hole with the title already all but assured.
 A brace of birdies on each nine were enough for the world number 57 to seal his eighth European Tour title, with what was amazingly his first top-10 finish of the season.
 “I’m very happy, I know that the golf course here is fantastic,” Thongchai said. “I was looking at the leaderboard and thinking about how to play the course. The most important thing was to hit the ball in the fairway, but I was putting very well too. This week, I think it is the biggest win of my life.”
 The closest anyone got to Thongchai on the back nine was when Andy Sullivan made three consecutive birdies to get to eight-under.
But the Englishman’s challenge came to a disappointing end with a bogey on 17 followed by a watery triple bogey at the last.
 McIlroy failed to find his best from tee to green, and narrowly missed a succession of birdie putts. The world number four began the day tied for second place with Jeunghun Wang, but his only birdie came at the par-five 14th as he was forced to sign for an even-par closing effort of 71.
 Nevertheless, this was a solid tournament for the four-time major champion on his return to action after missing the US Open cut at Oakmont, and a solid week on the 2018 Ryder Cup course is good preparation for the upcoming British Open at Royal Troon.
 “There were signs that my game was really good and heading in the right direction, and then today there were still some things that were good,” McIlroy said. “The way I felt out there and finishing third on my own makes it a decent week in that regard.”
 Italian Francesco Molinari ended up second after shooting a five-under-par 66, the joint-best round of the week. The two-time Ryder Cup winner rolled in seven birdies to give his hopes of making Darren Clarke’s European team for the matches at Hazeltine in September a massive boost.
 This tournament just outside Paris offered double points for the Ryder Cup hopefuls, as well as counting as two events on the Race to Dubai.
 German Martin Kaymer, the 2009 winner, briefly threatened around the turn, but a flurry of dropped shots on the inward half saw the former world number one finish on four under par.
 South Korean Wang totally collapsed after a double bogey on the second hole, with six further bogeys completing a miserable day and a seven-over-par round of 78.
 Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello finished in fourth place thanks to a closing round of 67, while defending champion Bernd Wiesberger of Austria faded out of contention.
 Lee Westwood had given himself an outside chance with a fantastic third round, but just could not get anything going on the last day and finished tied for 11th.
 The French Open had four spots for the British Open available to the highest players in the top 12 yet to qualify. South African Brandon Stone, one of five joint-leaders after the second round, Swede Alex Noren, England’s Callum Shinkwin and Stone’s compatriot Richard Sterne took those places.

McIlroy confident of Open title charge
World number four Rory McIlroy says he is ready to challenge for the British Open in a fortnight’s time at Royal Troon, after finishing third in the French Open yesterday.
McIlroy went into the final day at Golf National just two shots behind eventual winner Thongchai Jaidee, but ended up five off the pace.
The 27-year-old won the British Open in 2014 at Royal Liverpool, but missed his title defence last year at St Andrews through injury.
The four-time major champion is yet to play competitively at Troon so will go to the course next weekend to get some practice.
“I’ve got 10 days until the Open starts. I’m going to play a bit of links golf and work on the shots that I’ll need for Troon as well,” he said.
“I’m confident with where I’m at, and even though this week it didn’t feel that good, I’m obviously doing some things right.
“I don’t actually know much about it (Troon), I’m going to go over this week and play a couple of days and try and figure out what I need to do there.
“It was really disappointing not to be able to defend at St Andrews last year, but hopefully I can play somewhere near how I did in Liverpool and give myself a chance.”
A blistering back nine of 30 in the third round in France showed McIlroy is not far from his best form, even though he could not reproduce it yesterday. “There were a couple of swings on the back nine that I need to work on. I was getting quite steep with my irons, which has been a problem anyway, so I need to try and work on that going forward,” the Northern Irishman added.