July 2, 2017: Alexander Björk and Peter Uihlein will share the lead heading into the final round of the HNA Open de France but they will have a host of multiple European Tour winners breathing down their necks.
On a day of ebb and flow at Le Golf National, the second Rolex Series event of the season was set up for a dramatic finish with the leading duo sitting at eight under, just one shot clear of Ryder Cup stars Thomas Pieters and Andy Sullivan, and in-form Tommy Fleetwood.
There were then a further ten players within four shots of the lead, with a shoot-out in store to decide how the seven million dollar prize fund will be dished out come the close of play.
Uihlein was a picture of consistency with just one birdie and one bogey in a 71, while Challenge Tour graduate Björk came home in 32 to sign for a 70 as he goes in seek of a first European Tour title.
American Uihlein already has one win to his name but Fleetwood, Pieters and Sullivan have eight between them with Fleetwood – who is second in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex – looking for his second of the season.
Uihlein got off to a poor start, putting his second at the first into the water but he hit an excellent recovery from the drop-zone to keep the damage to just a single stroke and then made 12 straight pars as the rest of the field jostled for position.
Björk looked to be drifting out of contention as he turned in 38 with bogeys on the fourth and ninth and when the final group reached the turn, he was two shots off the five-way tie for the lead held by Uihlein, Fleetwood, Adrian Otaegui and Paul Waring.
The Swede nudged himself back into contention with a birdie on the 11th but Otaegui broke out of the pack with a smart tee-shot to the same hole and Waring soon joined him with a stunning third to the par five fifth after having to chip out from rough off the tee.
Otaegui got into similar trouble on the 13th to leave Waring in the lead on his own but the Englishman found the water on the 15th to surrender a double-bogey before picking a shot back up with a putt from over 50-feet up the hill on the next.
Björk had put his approach to the 14th to 18 feet to get to seven under but that was a shot behind Uihlein who holed from 12 feet on the same hole to take the lead on his own.
Björk then chipped in on the 16th to share the lead before Uihlein made it 16 pars for the day after laying up and hitting the pin on the last.
Sullivan’s 68 was the joint-lowest round of the day as he turned in level par before birdieing the tenth, holing a 25-footer on the 11th and then a left-to-righter uphill on the 16th.
Fellow Englishman Fleetwood had three birdies and three bogeys in a 71, while big-hitting Belgian Pieters bounced back from a bogey on the ninth after finding the water with birdies on the tenth, 11th and 15th.
Welshman Bradley Dredge was six under after a third consecutive 69, a shot ahead of Spaniard Otaegui – who dropped three shots in his last six holes – and Waring who double-bogeyed the last.
England’s Ross Fisher was also five under, one ahead of Kristoffer Broberg, David Drysdale, Andrew Johnston, Alex Noren, Adrien Saddier and Lee Westwood.
European Tour Release
