After a catastrophic start to the game and four lost balls in the water, the Norwegian Rasmus Højgaard was able to stay the course during the moving day to retain the lead of the leaderboard. With his total of -12, he is ahead of the South African George Coetzee by one shot and the duo Thomas Pieters / Paul Barjon by two shots. Antoine Rozner and Victor Perez also rank in the top 10 of this Cazoo Open de France

Rasmus Højgaard saves the day on moving day

Rasmus Højgaard retains the lead after three laps – Getty Images

Rasmus Højgaard is still in contention for an end-to-end win at the French Cazoo Open. The 21-year-old Dane bravely fought back from a quintuple-bogey on the second hole at Le Golf National.

The three-time DP World Tour winner had a six-stroke lead at the start of that dreaded par 3, but things turned sour when he found the water three times to hit an 8.

He followed that up with a bogey on the par five of hole 3, with another ball in the water on the face-off. Højgaard looked dejected and offside, six over par on the first three holes. He managed to reverse the trend, scoring five birdies on his last 13 holes for a card of 74 (+3).

This allows him to stay at the top of the standings with a score of 12 under par. He is one step ahead of South African George Coetzee, who scored 68 (-4).

Thomas Pieters, already winner this season at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, got closer to the leader with his card of 66 (-5), then joined by the French Paul Barjon also third in this Open at -10.

Antoine Rozner is also in the game with a total of -9, three shots from the lead, he is fifth. Victor Perez is seventh at -7 for the tournament.

 

To find the complete leaderboard of the Cazoo Open de France: click here.

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Rasmus Højgaard rolls out