DP World Tour : French Open weekend story

 DP World Tour : Cazoo French Open  Leaderboard

England's Jordan Smith will take a three-shot lead into the weekend at the Cazoo Open de France after carding a 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.

Scotland's Ewen Ferguson was then at nine under, two shots clear of local favourite Julien Brun, Japan's Ryo Hisatsune, Dane Nicolai Højgaard, South African Zander Lombard, England's Richard Mansell and German Yannik Paul.

Smith has been one of the DP World Tour's most consistent performers since winning the Porsche European Open in his 2017 rookie campaign, having topped the EuroPro Tour and European Challenge Tour Rankings in the two previous seasons.

He claimed two runner-up finishes and six other top tens in 2022 before finally claiming a second victory at the Portugal Masters.

He was selected for the Hero Cup in January where he won two points from his four matches and has two top tens in 2023, making his last ten consecutive cuts.

“The last few weeks have been really good, been putting lovely, so there’s a lot of confidence in there," he said. "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 the last week has been great on the putting green so it’s given me a lot of confidence."

He added: “I hit some awesome iron shots. 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.

“You’ve seen it in the past, those last few holes catch people out"

Tom Kim the Korean overnight leader  became a victim of the famous Le Golf National closing stretch as he made a double on the 16th and treble on the last after finding water on both holes to leave Smith four ahead.

Kim's late troubles left Ferguson as the nearest challenger as he recovered from an opening double-bogey after finding the water in a 67.

He got up and down on the third, left himself a tap-in on the fourth and then holed a 13-footer on the fifth.

A bogey on the sixth was followed by long putts on the seventh and eighth before he got up and down on the 14th and hit an incredible shot into the last to leave himself another tap-in.

Brun carded a 66, with Lombard and Paul recording rounds of 68, Hisatsune and Højgaard signing for a pair of 69s and Mansell getting round in 70.

Japan's Kazuki Higa and English pair Matthew Southgate and Andrew Wilson were at six under, one clear of a group containing Kim, who signed for a 73.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (editor)

Cockerill misses Paris....Thursday tee times Cazoo Open de France

 DP World Tour : Cazoo Open de France Tee Times

Aaron Cockerill with an unimpressive return to DP World Tour has chosen to miss this week French Open with the Ryder Cup in Rome to follow...I assume he has flown home to Chelsey in Winnipeg. 

Before returning after the Ryder Cup to finish his year on the DP World Tour, currently with mediocre results documented here in previous posts at #70 he will need to find his A game to progress on his 2024 spot amongst Europe's best.

Bryan Angus

'' Foxy" rallies to win BMW PGA Championship.. final results

 DP World Tour : BMW PGA Championship Results

Ryan Fox won his first Rolex Series title as he birdied the last to post a closing 67 and lift the trophy at the BMW PGA Championship.

The New Zealander entered the day three shots off the lead and when he made a triple-bogey on the difficult third, he could have been forgiven for thinking that his chance had gone.

But he picked up two birdies on the front nine to turn in 36 and then came home in 31, birdieing the par-five 18th from six feet after laying up, to finish at 18 under, one clear of home favourites Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai.

World Number Three Jon Rahm was 16 under after a 68, one ahead of Ryder Cup team-mate Viktor Hovland and two clear of another Ryder Cup player in Tommy Fleetwood.

World Number Two Rory McIlroy made a charge through the field with a closing 65 and he finished at 13 under alongside Australian Adam Scott and England's Callum Shinkwin.

Fox enjoyed a stellar start to his Rolex Series career, claiming three top tens in consecutive weeks in his rookie season in 2017 before adding another three in 2018, including a play-off loss at the Irish Open.

He had not had another Rolex Series top ten since, or a top ten at this event, coming into this week but he had added three DP World Tour wins and claimed last season's Seve Ballesteros Award after finishing second on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.

A tie for third at last week's Horizon Irish Open represented his best finish of 2023 so far and he now enters the history books as the first Kiwi winner of this event and follows in the footsteps of Major-winning countryman Michael Campbell, who won at Wentworth Club in the 2005 World Match Play Championship.

"I'm immensely proud," he said. "It's such an iconic tournament. I know Michael Campbell has won around here when it was the match play event and to add to that history here and create some of my own is very special.

"I've got an almost three-year-old and a four-month-old standing over there and to have them here to support with a place pretty close by where we can stay at home this week just made the week

"We have been through a pretty tough year as a family. We lost my father-in-law in June after a really, really short battle with cancer and that kind of rocked the family. It's been tough going back and forth.

"To come over here and have a good week in Ireland last week and this, I don't think I could have wished for better."

He added: "To have a back nine like that, especially after how I started the day, it's amazing. I played great. Pretty much didn't miss a shot from the third hole onwards and saw a couple of putts go in and it was a pretty cool feeling on the last to sort of know I had one to win and actually make it."

edit*** Canadian Aaron Cockerill continued  his DP World Tour season T61 -1 68 74 71 74 287 worth $32,835 in Canadian money. 

He has dropped to 70th in the standings with his last 5 outings T72 in Ireland, T63 in Switzerland, T64 at the Barracuda and T58 at the Barbasol.

Next week its the Cazoo Open at Le Golf National outside Paris in France, the week ahead of the Ryder Cup in Rome.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Helligkilde leads, Cockerill opens with 68, full scoreboard BMW PGA Championship

 DP World Tour : BMW PGA Championship : Leaderboard

Marcus Helligkilde produced a big finish at Wentworth Club to open up a two-shot lead after day one of the BMW PGA Championship.

Playing in the same group as Canadian Aaron Cockerill, the Dane birdied his final three holes to sign for a 64 and move to eight under ahead of Scot Richie Ramsay and England's Matt Fitzpatrick in the fourth Rolex Series event of the season.

All 12 members of Europe's Ryder Cup team are teeing it up at DP World Tour HQ this week and Fitzpatrick was the best of them after 18 holes, leading a strong home charge that saw Matthew Baldwin and James Morrison three shots off the lead.

Spanish pair Jorge Campillo and Pablo Larrazábal, Belgian Thomas Detry, Japan's Rikuya Hoshino, Pole Adrian Meronk and Scot Connor Syme were also five under.

But it was Helligkilde who stole the show in Surrey, carding ten birdies enroute to matching his lowest DP World Tour round to par.

"I did it by hitting it terrible on the range," he said. "I asked my coach what should I do, and he's like, 'yeah, you're probably going to play great'. So that was what happened.

"Everything was in play from the tee. I was hitting decent shots into the greens and I was holing a lot of putts.

edit*** Cockerill made 6 birdies and an eagle mixed in with 4 bogeys for 68 to T12 at -4 in a low scoring pairing.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

BMW PGA Championship: Shane Lowry defends, Cockerill and all other TEE TIMES

 DP World Tour: BMW PGA Championship: Tee Times

Shane Lowry returns to one of his "favourite places in the world" to defend his BMW PGA Championship title, with the memory of overcoming two of the world's best players on Sunday last year fresh in his mind.

"It was a good week last week in Ireland and I'm hoping for another good week this week and looking forward to it."

During a dramatic final round in Surrey a year ago, Lowry birdied the last to overtake early clubhouse leader Rahm at the summit.

But he then faced an anxious wait as McIlroy, in the group behind, gave himself an eagle putt at the 18th which would have pulled him alongside Lowry.

McIlroy's 23-foot effort just stayed above ground, though, handing Lowry the title.

The Irishman produced a flawless performance in the final round 12 months ago to edge out Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy at Wentworth Club.

And he is back in England this week to take on a star-studded field in the fourth Rolex Series event of the 2023 season.

Fresh from his joint third-place finish at the Horizon Irish Open on home soil on Sunday, Lowry is relishing the prospect of defending his title at one of his favourite venues this week.

He said: "I've always loved coming here and to come back here as defending champion, it's a tournament that you always want to win as a European golfer. 

"It's one that's kind of on your list at the start of every year that you definitely want to play in, and you want to try and win. It's great and I'm looking forward to the week ahead.

Reflecting on what stands out from that experience, Lowry added: "Just how calm I was coming down the back nine. 

"I felt like I got myself in position and I've got what it takes to do it against the best in the world. It was exciting to do that.

"I always love coming here. It's one of my favourite places in the world."

Lowry will kick off his title defense in the company of Ryder Cup team-mates Sepp Straka and Tommy Fleetwood at 0900 on Thursday.

edit *** Canada's Aaron Cockerill continues his run on the DP World Tour at this flagship event on the historic Wentworth Club. All the European big stars join the elite in British sports and entertainment in the Pro-Am today.

On Thursday Aaron has a 1010am tee time off the 1st with Korean Jeunghun Wang and the Dane Marcus Helligkilde.

He is currently 64 in the Race to Dubai ranking and 239 in the owgr.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

A Swede wins the Irish Open.... FINAL RESUTS

 DP World Tour: Horizon Irish Open ..Results

Vincent Norrman secured a second DP World Tour title in just his 14th appearance after firing a flawless 65 in the weather-affected final round of the 2023 Horizon Irish Open to overcome a host of world-class challengers and win by a single stroke.

Norrman began the day six shots off the lead but picked up six birdies in eight holes around the turn either side of a lengthy weather delay to surge into contention.

And after pulling off some valuable par saves over the closing holes, the Swede completed his round with a close-range birdie on the 18th to set the clubhouse target at 14 under par.

That was good enough for a share of the lead at the time, but with a large chasing pack - which included World Number Two Rory McIlroy - breathing down his neck several holes further back down the course, he faced an anxious wait to discover whether his total would be enough.

With third-round leader Hurly Long - who had been locked alongside Norrman when he finished his round - slipping backwards on the stretch and no-one else able to get to 14 under, Norrman secured his second title of the 2023 season following his maiden triumph at the Barbasol Championship in July

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit

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Rory moves into contention at home Horizon Irish Open... full scoreboard

 DP World Tour  Horizon Irish Open....Leaderboard

Hurly Long will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the 2023 Horizon Irish Open but must hold off a stellar chasing pack which includes Rory McIlroy if he is to claim his maiden DP World Tour title on Sunday.

With all three members of the final group slipping backwards at The K Club on Saturday afternoon, the 28-year-old took full advantage, carding four birdies and two bogeys in a third-round 70 to reach 13 under par and hit the front.

Halfway co-leader Jordan Smith was Long's nearest challenger on 12 under after closing his 73 with a birdie, with World Number Two McIlroy a shot further back following his stunning 66 earlier in the day.

The Northern Irishman, who is bidding to win his second Irish Open title after tasting victory at this venue in 2016, produced some of his very best golf, carding seven birdies and a single bogey in front of bumper crowds.

Speaking about the prospect of playing alongside crowd favourite McIlroy, Long said: "It's exciting.

"Last year at The Belfry I was leading after two rounds, and there were ginormous crowds out there as well.

"So I can take something from that. I've got a good attitude. I know it's going to be way more difficult tomorrow than it was even today but you can feed off that just as well.

Englishman Smith, who mixed three birdies with a double bogey and two bogeys, said: "It's going to be good fun playing with Rory. 

"But I've just got to stick to my own game. Ball-striking is fine. Just a few unlucky breaks today.

"I look forward to it. It will be great. The crowds will be great. It will be loud and just hopefully the weather sticks."

edit*** Canada's Aaron Cockerill squandered a Friday -6 66 with a 10 shot worse Saturday with a 7 bogey, 3 birdie +4 76 near last at #69 -1..

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit