France’s Martin Couvra won his maiden DP World Tour title on Sunday in just his 15th start when he took the Turkish Airlines Open at Regnum Carya in Antalya, Türkiye by two strokes.
South African fans will remember him after he achieved an historic treble when the South African Amateur Championships wrapped up at Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate in February 2023. For a stretch of 234 holes, over nine days, on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, the then 19-year-old Couvra was simply unstoppable, winning the 72-hole South African Stroke Play Championship, the 36-hole Proudfoot Trophy and the SA Amateur match play to become the first player to win all three events in full regulation play in the same calendar year.
“It’s just amazing to win in my first year on the tour,” said Couvra. “It’s just a dream. I wake up in the mornings wanting to win tournaments, but to do it like that is just amazing.”
He was almost as unstoppable on Sunday as he made an astonishing nine birdies in his closing round to haul in the leader and then pull clear for a victory that was, in the end, the product of his self-assurance as much as of his undeniable talent.
“I didn’t really feel as calm as I might have looked,” Couvra said. “It was really difficult to keep calm and to keep in good shape to close out the round. But I’m really happy about all the decisions I made with my caddie. It was just amazing today.”
Five birdies on the front nine and four on the back made two dropped shots rather irrelevant in the end as he finished on 17-under for the week, two clear of Haotong Li of China and Spain’s Jorge Campillo. The leader after 54 holes, Brandon Robinson Thompson of England, ground his way to a one-over 72 in the closing round to finish fourth on 13-under.
South Africa’s Robin Williams made a double-bogey six on the 16th to fall out of contention after had progressed to 13-under himself. In the end, he finished on 11-under after his closing level-par 71, in a share of seventh.
However, it was a much-improved performance from Williams in his so-far underwhelming rookie season on the tour, and he was projected to climb 32 places on the Race to Dubai rankings to 87th after he missed nine cuts in 14 starts since his promotion to the DP World Tour.
He played an astonishing 44 tournaments last season and battled to rebound from that. This week, but for a short game which didn’t seem to hold up too well under pressure, he was always a factor during the tournament, and perhaps the proximity of his father, who he says knows his game almost better than he does, on the bag for the week helped.
His father calls weeks like these ‘investment sessions’, and the week in Türkiye was possibly the biggest investment session of his career
“If someone had told me at the start of the week that I would play like this, I would definitely have taken it,” said Williams after his final round. “It’s been a good experience, especially to play with Haotong on the weekend, to see how it is to get it done, and to compete up there.”
Williams had blitzed the back nine in the third round, and when he hit the turn, he birdied the tough 10th which had caused so many players so many problems all week. It must have felt that he might have been able to cause an upset from a long way back.
“I knew I still had to make some pretty ridiculous stuff coming in,” he said. “I just messed up 16 today, but I’m still happy with it.
“Although things didn’t work out the way I wanted them to, there are still a lot of positives to take from the week. I struggled at the start of the season, so this is a step in the right direction and I’ll use this momentum going into the rest of the European Swing.”
Behind Williams, Jayden Schaper strongly with a six-under-par 65 vaulting him into a share of 29th on eight-under. Wilco Nienaber endured another frustrating day on which his driver just wouldn’t co-operate as much as it had in the first two rounds. In the end, his closing one-over 72 saw him finish in a share of 33rd on seven-under.
Dylan Frittelli had a closing two-over 73 to finish on two-under in a share of 56th, while Dylan Naidoo rebounded from his horrible third round of five-over with a three-under 68 to reach level-par and a share of 61st.
For Couvra, who was drenched in champagne by his fellow-French players, there was the prospect of a big party ahead of return to his home in France to celebrate with friend and his mother and father.
For Williams, his father will no doubt help him understand just how important it will be for him to learn from his investment during the week. But there will also be a quiet celebration for the big step forward he took with his performance.
