Tommy Fleetwood will head into the Open Championship this month in the form of his life after claiming a second victory of the season, in the HNA Open de France.

Fleetwood struck a flawless final round of 66 at the 2018 Ryder Cup venue Le Golf National to finish 12 under par, a shot ahead of the overnight joint-leader Peter Uihlein.

The 26-year-old from Southport, who used to sneak on to the Open venue of Royal Birkdale as a child, was 188th in the world last September but will be a career-high 15th when the rankings are updated on Monday.

Justin Rose, the Olympic champion and Masters runner-up, is now the only English player ranked higher than Fleetwood, who also moved above Sergio García, who pipped Rose at Augusta, to the top of the Race to Dubai.

Fleetwood has reaped the rewards of returning to his former coach Alan Thompson and followed his second European Tour victory in Abu Dhabi in January by finishing fourth in the US Open last month.

“When it all got talked about last year, everybody knew these were the tournaments you wanted to play well in,” Fleetwood said after collecting the trophy and career-best first prize of £915,000. This eclipsed the £850,000 he won by finishing second behind the world No1, Dustin Johnson, in the WGC-Mexico Championship in March.

“To win a Rolex Series event, knowing how big the stature is of everything now, is a big deal for me. I played great today, felt comfy again and it’s always great to test your game and test what you work on every day under the ultimate pressure.

“Life’s just been great. I’m engaged, expecting a baby, my fiancée is my manager, my caddie’s one of my best mates in the world. Thommo, I think, is the best coach in the world – everybody around me I have really strong relationships with and when you enjoy doing your job that’s a massive positive.”

Fleetwood began the final round a shot off the lead but quickly wiped out his deficit after coming within a fraction of an inch of spinning his tee shot on the 2nd back into the hole for an ace.

A two-putt birdie on the par-five 3rd took Fleetwood into the lead and another on the 9th restored his advantage after Sweden’s Alexander Bjork recovered from a bogey on the first with birdies on the 5th and 7th.

Fleetwood then moved further ahead with birdies on the 13th and 14th. Uihlein picked up shots on the same holes and piled on the pressure with a birdie on the 17th, but the American could not hole a bunker shot on the 18th to force a playoff.

Fleetwood described ending the year as European No1 by winning the Race to Dubai as “an ultimate dream”, although he is scheduled to contest the Irish and Scottish Opens before heading home for the Open.

“It’s going to be a massive week for me,” he said. “I’m going to be playing in front of crowds that I never have before and people that you have grown up with.

“It’s going to be an amazing experience from start to finish. Whether I do well or do bad I’m going to have a lot of people rooting for me and that’s going to be lovely.”

Uihlein had the consolation of sealing his place at Royal Birkdale via the Open qualifying series. Bjork and Mike Lorenzo-Vera claiming the other two berths in a share of third place with Thorbjorn Olesen, who was already exempt.