Alexandre Kaleka will return home to France for the first time since his second European Challenge Tour victory two weeks ago when he plays in the ALLIANZ Golf Open Toulouse Metropole on a course upon which he won once as an amateur.
The 22 year old Frenchman claimed his first title since the incredible professional debut victory in 2009 in another of the ALLIANZ-sponsored events - the ALLIANZ Open de Lyon - with a one shot win over Alessandro Tadini at the M2M Russian Challenge a fortnight ago.
A tied tenth place finish in the Kazakhstan Open last week means the 25 year old enters this week’s homecoming in fourth place in the Rankings and virtually certain of a European Tour card for next season. Buoyed by his good form , he will travel the five hour drive south from Orleans in search of nothing short of a victory.
“I am definitely confident entering the week,” said Kaleka. “A win is always the goal, but especially this week because it’s in France.
“I’ve played solidly for the past two weeks. In Russia it just happened for me and I won and then last week I played well but just didn’t score as well as I could have. I hope I’ll be in good shape for this week.”
The two-time Challenge Tour winner also has fond recollections of the Golf de Toulouse-Seilh course, this week hosting the third of four ALLIANZ-sponsored events on the Challenge Tour schedule.
“I hope it will be a little bit windy because I have good memories of windy weather on that course,” he said. “I won a French Junior International Strokeplay Championships there. It was one of my first wins as a kid and I beat Floris de Vries in the final.
“It’s a nice place and I’ll have my car so I’ll have the chance to see my friends in Toulouse. It’s a really nice city and the food is great which is very important when you are on tour.
“If it’s windy it’s going to be a good test; if not, sometimes there is no rough so it can be low scoring and it can become a putting contest but I think it’s going to be a good week.
“There is a big field from France there so you will see a lot of new, younger guys coming along which is great.”
Also in the field is Alexander Levy, who was leading going into the final round of the Kazakhstan Open but could only finish in third place as Scott Henry went on to record victory.
Former Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson is also present after three weeks playing on The European Tour.
