Half-way lead for Marty

French players took the lead of the Open de Normandie. The half-way podium is 100 per cent blue-white-red. Fabien Marty who teed of in morning session proved that yesterday’s score was not just luck. He fired 65, 6 under par best score of the day to aggregate -13. Overnight co-leader fellow Nicolas Joakimides is 2 strokes back. Parisian Thomas Linard is third by his own despite dropping 2 shots on 17th par 3.
The weather was not fair today. The sun did not show more than 15 minutes in total. Gusts of wind made jokes to players from noon and the temperature did not exceed 15 degrees. Though Fabien Marty seemed to be ‘weatherproof’ and kept the leadership after 36 holes.
‘I hit 18 greens, my long game is very solid. I put well again. I started with four birides on first five holes so it gives you confidence. I enter the round quite quick then I rode the wave. I tried to recover the mood I used to have during my first season as pro. I played shot after shot so I do not think of the scores. Quite common but not always easy to do.’
Ireland Gareth Shaw made the biggest move thank to his 65-6-under-par card. Shaw shares fourth place with France’s Julien Foret. Both of them are serious challengers.

None of the 11 amateurs made the cut fixed at level par.

From Saint-Saens

By Agathe Séron