Frederic Lacroix Becomes Latest French Winner on DP World Tour

Frederic Lacroix became the latest French winner when he secured his maiden DP World Tour title with a final round of 65 to take the Danish Golf Championship by four shots.

He said: "It's hard to realise yet. It's going to come a bit later but I'm just happy to have a good round. I was bogey-free today so I'm very happy with that today.

"I've been close a few times, especially this year, and I've just been improving the last few years, slowly but steadily. I just kept doing my thing and it's nice to see it all coming together with a win today."

Lacroix revealed he drew inspiration from seeing his fellow Frenchman and friend David Ravetto lift the trophy at last week's Czech Masters. He added: "Seeing my friend win last week, David - it showed that it's possible, it's more than doable. I'm just a bit lost for words now."

Lacroix began the day four strokes off the lead but closed the gap after birdies at the first, fifth and seventh.

The 29-year-old then moved three shots ahead of the chasing pack with further birdies on the 10th, 12th and 15th before parring his way home to finish on 14 under par and wrap up a memorable win.

The Frenchman has enjoyed a fine season since graduating from the European Challenge Tour last year, with this victory his fifth top-five finish of the campaign.

Countryman Romain Langasque and home favourite Lucas Bjerregaard finished in a tie for second on ten under, with last week's winner Ravetto alone in fourth another shot further back.

Lacroix made a strong start to the final round, getting up and down from the semi rough for an opening birdie before picking up another shot at the fifth to reach 10 under. He went agonisingly close to making a hole-in-one at the par-three seventh but had to settle for a tap-in birdie there.

Lacroix kicked off the back nine with a birdie from the fringe at the tenth before a close-range gain on the 12th sent him three shots clear at the top of the leaderboard.

A golden chance to extend his lead came and went at the 14th as he missed a four-foot birdie try but he drained a 15-foot putt at the 15th to reach 14 under and then finished his round with a hat-trick of pars to comfortably close out victory.

Frederic Lacroix - What You Need to Know

Lacroix was born in Paris on February 23, 1995, and took up golf when he was eight years old.  

At the end of 2013, Lacroix enrolled at the University of Mannheim in Germany, where he trained at Golf Club St Leon-Rot for two-and-a-half years. In 2016, he enrolled at Paris Dauphine University, graduating in December 2018 with a degree in management.

Lacroix enjoyed a successful amateur career. He represented France at the European Amateur Team Championship and the Eisenhower Trophy. He also represented Europe at the St Andrews Trophy and Bonallack Trophy. He finished third at the 2017 South African Stroke Play Championship and fourth at the 2018 African Amateur Stroke Play Championship.

Lacroix turned professional in 2019. He joined the Alps Tour, winning three times to earn promotion to the Challenge Tour.  He won the Ein Bay Open in Egypt at 15-under, and the Alps de Las Castillas in Spain at 28 under par. He made golfing history with his win at the Saint-Malo Golf Mixed Open, the first full-field mixed professional golf tournament in Europe, co-sanctioned by the LET Access Series.

On the Challenge Tour in 2021 he finished runner-up at the Challenge de Espina, Open de Portugal and Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final to finish fifth in the Order of Merit and earn promotion to the DP World Tour. He missed just four cuts in 19 starts.

In 2022, his best finishes were a tie for fifth at the Joburg Open and a tie for 10th at the BMW International Open. He rose to 215th in the world rankings and finished 121st in the Order of Merit, narrowly missing out on keeping his full card. 

In 2023, he finished 5th at the Porsche European Open in Germany and tied for 10th at the Volvo Scandinavian Mixed after starting the tournament only one stroke off the lead after the first round.

He has had a decent season in 2024, with highlights including a tied fifth at the South African Open, tied fourth at the Bahrain Championship and tied third at the Czech Masters. His victory at the Danish Championship was his maiden success on the DP World Tour and takes him to 11th place in the Race to Dubai.

He averages 310.35 yards from the tee, hits 63.19% of fairways and finds 70.88% of greens in regulation. He averages 29.56 putts per round, gets up and down from the sand 54.55% of the time and has a stroke average of 71.13.