Jordan Smith burst through to take a three-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Cazoo Open de France thanks to a sublime seven under par 64 on day two at Le Golf National.
The Englishman birdied five of his first six holes to hit the front and then tackled the tough back nine in 33 to get to 12 under and take control.
Related: Joohyung Kim battles to Cazoo Open de France lead
Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson recovered from an opening double bogey to move to nine under, two shots clear of local favourite Julien Brun, Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune, Dane Rasmus Højgaard, South African Zander Lombard, England’s Richard Mansell and German Yannik Paul.
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Two-time DP World Tour winner Smith, whose most recent triumph came at the 2022 Portugal Masters, currently sits 38th on the Race to Dubai Rankings in partnership with Rolex and will be looking for an improvement on his best finishes of the season – ties for sixth place at the ISPS HANDA – Championship and the Porsche European Open – as he aims to climb the season-long rankings.
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English duo Matthew Southgate and Andrew Wilson share ninth place with Japan’s Kazuki Higa on six under par, with overnight leader Tom Kim, of South Korea, a shot further back in a tie for 12th after dropping five shots in his final three holes.
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The second day of the Cazoo Open de France marked the end of two distinguished DP World Tour careers, with England’s Graeme Storm and Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin missing the cut and bringing the curtain down on their respective careers in front of their family and friends.
Storm, 45, opted to retire this week on his 500th DP World Tour start at the scene of his maiden victory in 2007, while an emotional Jacquelin bowed out at his national open before making the transition to over-50s golf next year.
Player quotes
Jordan Smith: Mainly the wind. I hit some awesome iron shots in there. The challenge was mainly the wind, a lot of the time it was a crosswind so you were trying to work out whether it was hurting a little bit or helping a little bit so I’m really happy with the way I’m playing.
The last few weeks have been really good, been putting lovely, so there’s a lot of confidence in there. Been doing a lot of work with my putting coach, Matt, back home and away at tournaments. It’s been a lot of work, lot of drills, lot of time on the putting green but last week has been great on the putting green so it’s given me a lot of confidence.
You’ve seen it in the past, those last few holes catch people out so it’s more of the same. Staying aggressive, greens are soft so you can go straight at the pins.”
