Round two of the DP World Tour’s FedEx Open de France got underway on Friday and after a disastrous eight-over-par round one, Dubliner Conor Purcell had a huge mountain to climb if he was to tee off at the weekend.
The task was too much for Purcell as the 28-year-old posted a much more respectable one-over-par round two to see him bow out at nine-over-par.
Purcell showed much more grit in round two, starting his round well with two birdies in the first four holes.
Like round one, Purcell had trouble off the tee box as two bogeys came back-to-back on the seventh and eighth holes.
Knowing that he wouldn’t make the weekend, Purcell was taking on flags, and it paid off with a birdie on the par-4 11th.
A tee ball that found the thick stuff on 13 meant another bogey was carded for Purcell before his tee shot on the last hole found the greenside bunker to add insult to injury.
Needing to get within the top 110 in the rankings before the end of season to keep his status, Purcell needs to be swinging well as he sits 155th in the rankings.
England’s Marcus Armitage retained his lead at the top as the 38-year-old posted a three-under-par round two to take him to 10-under, two strokes ahead of the pack.
An eventful front nine for Armitage saw three birdies and two bogeys before he settled his nerve heading into the back nine to make two more birdies.
“All in all, I kept my nose in front, and hopefully we can keep going over the weekend. I ground it out, and that’s what golf’s about,” said Armitage.
“Everyone’s great on the good days, it’s the bad days like that, if you can still shoot a score and keep yourself in it, then you just wait for the good days over the weekend,” he added.
Two strokes behind Armitage and in a tie for second are Australia’s Min Woo Lee and Denmark’s Jeff WInther who sit at eight-under.
Min Woo succumbed to an early bogey, but the 27-year-old hot shot didn’t let that kill his momentum as he went bogey-free for the remaining 17 holes, making four birdies to post a three-under-par round.
“It was just solid golf, which was nice. When I had to hit some shots, I could, but I didn’t hit anything spectacular. That’s the reason why I didn’t go too low,” said Min Woo.
After a lackluster even-par round one, 37-year-old Winther went on a rampage to post an eight-under-par round two to see him fly up the leaderboard.
Five birdies on the front and four birdies on the back, Winther’s only mishap came at the par-5 eighth as he three-putted on the tricky French greens.
“It was a great day today,” he said. “Made a lot of putts… I got in a lot of good positions off the tee, which makes it crucial to go for the pins because they are tucked away here and there. I think you need to hit fairways here otherwise you’re struggling.”
There’s a five-way tie for fourth as Adrien Saddier, Mikael Lindberg, Jens Dantorp, Gregorio De Leo and Jeong Weon Ko all sit at six-under heading into the final round.
Five-time Major Champion Brooks Koepka was in the group on five under, with Alexander Levy and Ugo Coussaud adding to a strong French challenge on four under. Defending champion Dan Bradbury made the cut right on the line at level par.
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