Grégory Bourdy ensured there was a French presence at the top of the leaderboard in the Lyoness Open powered by Sporthilfe Cashback Card ahead of his country’s Euro 2016 opener, after a second round 69 earned him a share of the lead alongside South Africa’s Zander Lombard.
In difficult, breezy conditions at Diamond Country Club, the 34 year old utilised his 12 years of European Tour experience to card the joint lowest round of the day and move to a seven under par total.
Lombard joined him at the summit as the 21 year old signed for a two under par 70 which included an impressive four under front nine 32.
Ahead of the European Championship opener between France and Romania, Gary Stal also kept the Gallic theme running as he added a one under 71 to his opening 67 to sit one shot off the pace on six under, while Spain’s Borja Virta was on his own in fourth spot on five under.
Meanwhile, defending champion Chris Wood of England was lurking five shots back on two under par after a second successive 71, with home favourite Bernd Wiesberger two shots further back after a two over 74.
Player quotes:
Grégory Bourdy
“It was a great day again today. It was quite difficult this morning with the wind, it was blowing harder than yesterday so I would say it was more difficult than yesterday. I’m very happy to shoot a 69 and finish with a nice birdie on the ninth.
“We were between a five or four iron for the second shot on nine but I had quite a good lie in the rough so I was thinking it might fly a lot. It’s dry in front of the greens too so I think it was the best option and it was a good result.
“I’m definitely going to watch the game tonight, I’m very confident. I think we have a great team this year, some strong and young guys so I hope we’ll start well tonight against Romania.”
Zander Lombard
“It was so brutal with the wind out there today. Club selection was absolutely crucial and the pins positions today were tough with the wind direction. I was really hitting great shots on the front nine with just a few misjudgements with the wind on the back nine which cost me a few shots. A little three putt and a bad pitch and that’s all it was. The rest was solid and I’m very happy to be in this position for the weekend.
“I holed a six footer at the first, missed a ten footer on two and made a great par on three. My momentum got me going then and I made three birdies in a row, so it was just a matter of hitting great shots and a few putts went in.
“I’m looking forward to playing with Greg, we’ve played together before so a good friend out there and we’re definitely going to have a good battle. I just need to keep it in play.”
Gary Stal
“Today was a very tough day but my game was there. I played very well, just missed one shot and made double bogey but I’m happy with how I played.
“You need to stay calm because you know it’s a difficult day. There was a lot more wind than yesterday morning, I think maybe 30 or 40 yards difference. It was nice to finish with a birdie though, I hit a nice shot in and a nice putt from eight feet so that was a good way to finish. I don’t really like football but maybe I will watch with my friends tonight.”
Borja Virto
“It was a bit windier today and the last few holes were a bit tough. I didn’t manage to play my best but I made a few good pars so I’m happy with that round.
“It was a little softer today, I played in the afternoon yesterday and the morning today so I could notice it was a little softer but also a bit windier. I don’t know if it was that much easier today.
“Seven, eight and nine are playing pretty tough with the wind. The 17th is tough too. I’m hoping the weather stays as nice as it’s been over the weekend, no thunderstorms, and I just want to enjoy a nice weekend of golf.”
Scores:
137 G Bourdy (Fra) 68 69, Z Lombard (RSA) 67 70,
138 G Stal (Fra) 67 71,
139 B Virto (Esp) 70 69,
140 A Otaegui (Esp) 64 76, R McEvoy (Eng) 71 69, J Luiten (Ned) 69 71,
141 S Jamieson (Sco) 69 72, M Crespi (Ita) 70 71, W Ashun (Chn) 69 72,
142 C Wood (Eng) 71 71, D Bransdon (Aus) 69 73, M Ford (Eng) 72 70, J Morrison (Eng) 70 72,
143 B Evans (Eng) 72 71, G Havret (Fra) 71 72, B Åkesson (Swe) 66 77, C Kumar (Ind) 71 72, M Lundberg (Swe) 72 71, E De La Riva (Esp) 69 74, M Hoey (Nir) 72 71, R Gouveia (Por) 69 74,
144 J Carlsson (Swe) 74 70, S Henry (Sco) 70 74, L Nemecz (Aut) 69 75, M Warren (Sco) 73 71, C Paisley (Eng) 71 73, N Cullen (Aus) 71 73, M Kinhult (Swe) 70 74, S Webster (Eng) 71 73, B Wiesberger (Aut) 70 74, O Fisher (Eng) 73 71, E Molinari (Ita) 73 71,
145 M Carlsson (Swe) 71 74, D Burmester (RSA) 73 72, S Walker (Eng) 73 72, R Bland (Eng) 72 73, F Fritsch (Ger) 74 71, D Howell (Eng) 71 74, C Hanson (Eng) 71 74,
146 A McArthur (Sco) 75 71, E Goya (Arg) 71 75, D Horsey (Eng) 69 77, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 73 73, M Foster (Eng) 74 72, N Bertasio (Ita) 72 74, A Wall (Eng) 71 75, C Pigem (Esp) 75 71, M Southgate (Eng) 70 76, D Brooks (Eng) 72 74, T Lewis (Eng) 70 76, S Manley (Wal) 71 75, J Kruger (RSA) 72 74, D Gaunt (Aus) 71 75, T Van Der Walt (RSA) 72 74, C Costilla (Arg) 74 72, J Knutzon (USA) 70 76, D Gavins (Eng) 72 74,
147 P Peterson (USA) 75 72, D Im (USA) 73 74, P Edberg (Swe) 72 75, L Slattery (Eng) 73 74, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 72 75, M Millar (Aus) 76 71, P Oriol (Esp) 75 72, R Lee (Can) 71 76,
CUT
148 M Trappel (Aut) 75 73, S Kapur (Ind) 76 72, S Khan (Eng) 71 77, K Broberg (Swe) 68 80, J Hugo (RSA) 74 74, R Fox (Nzl) 76 72, M Baldwin (Eng) 72 76, D Lipsky (USA) 70 78, G Boyd (Eng) 70 78, J Singh (Ind) 74 74, G Storm (Eng) 75 73, S Straka (Aut) 72 76, L Bjerregaard (Den) 74 74,
149 M Madsen (Den) 75 74, L Canter (Eng) 75 74, J Fahrbring (Swe) 75 74, J Senior (Eng) 69 80, M Søgaard (Den) 74 75, J Smith (Eng) 75 74, R Davies (Wal) 73 76,
150 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 77 73, T Sinnott (Aus) 73 77, M Mamat (Sin) 72 78, O Wilson (Eng) 73 77, D Frittelli (RSA) 74 76, T Linard (Fra) 74 76, D Drysdale (Sco) 73 77,
151 R Finch (Eng) 75 76, P Lawrie (Irl) 76 75, J Allan (Eng) 78 73, C Shinkwin (Eng) 70 81, S Hansen (Den) 72 79, J Lima (Por) 72 79, P Dunne (Irl) 76 75, J Zunic (Aus) 77 74, B Neumayer (Aut) 81 70,
152 J Winther (Den) 75 77, A Pike (Aus) 74 78, Y Yang (Kor) 75 77, B Rumford (Aus) 76 76, M Wallace (Eng) 75 77, J Hansen (Den) 75 77, F Laporta (Ita) 76 76,
153 M Mayrhauser (Aut) 75 78, S Dyson (Eng) 74 79, H Rai (Ind) 75 78, J Walters (RSA) 77 76, U Van Den Berg (RSA) 76 77, C Gaster (am) (Aut) 79 74, D Schlauer (am) (Aut) 75 78,
154 R Ramsay (Sco) 77 77, D Papadatos (Aus) 77 77, P Gal (Cze) 78 76, M Guyatt (Aus) 76 78, J White (Eng) 79 75, S Arnold (Aus) 76 78, J McLeary (Sco) 77 77,
155 K Mueck (Aus) 78 77, J Lara (Esp) 79 76, R Evans (Eng) 75 80, M Ludwig (am) (Aut) 78 77,
156 B Reiter (Aut) 79 77, D Lloyd (RSA) 73 83, F Praegant (Aut) 81 75, L Jensen (Den) 78 78, M Steinlechner (am) (Aut) 79 77,
157 C Berardo (Fra) 78 79, N Ravano (Ita) 80 77, R Paratore (Ita) 79 78, R Gruber (Aut) 78 79,
158 M Jonzon (Swe) 77 81, D Dixon (Eng) 78 80, A Korinek (Cze) 75 83, J Edfors (Swe) 77 81, O Rath (am) (Aut) 83 75,
159 M Palmer (RSA) 76 83, E España (Fra) 77 82,
160 B Weilguni (Aut) 79 81, J Robinson (Eng) 78 82,
161 P Dedek (Cze) 86 75,
164 H Bacher (Aut) 84 80, J Jeong (Kor) 80 84,
168 D Poulter (Eng) 85 83,
169 E Fürnweger (Aut) 85 84,
172 T Baltl (am) (Aut) 90 82,
** R McGowan (Eng) 72 WD, M Orrin (Eng) 76 RT, P Howard (Eng) 80 RT, J Scrivener (Aus) 79 WD, T Bjørn (Den) RT 0,
