Thomas Detry carded an eight under par 63 to take a share of the lead into the weekend at the FedEx Open de France.
The Belgian’s effort was the lowest round of the week thus far at Le Golf National, matching the 63 he carded during the second round of the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition at this venue in August.
The 31-year-old started the day five shots off the lead and carded four birdies each on his front and back nines as he went bogey free, joining Jesper Svensson of Sweden and Englishman Dan Bradbury at the top of the leaderboard.
Tom McKibbin came home in three under to shoot a one-under 70 and trail Detry by six shots on three-under.
Svensson, who held a share of the first round lead carded a three under par 68 as he bids for a second DP World Tour victory in his rookie season after his Porsche Singapore Classic success in March.
Bradbury birdied the ninth hole, his last, to join them at the summit, signing for a five under par 66. Like Svensson, the 25-year-old is also hunting his second title after winning the Joburg Open in 2022.
Five golfers share fourth place, with the Danish pair of Rasmus Højgaard and Thorbjørn Olesen, Simon Forsström of Sweden, Englishman Paul Waring and Fabrizio Zanotti of Paraguay reaching eight under par after 36 holes.
Making his 560th and final DP World Tour appearance Frenchman Grégory Havret carded a five under par 66 to make the cut on the number, going nine strokes better than his first round 75.
Thomas Detry: “Got off to a great start. It’s the type of golf course where it gives you a couple of opportunities in the first cup of holes, if you drive it well, which I did all week so far, you can go low. We all know going in the rough is not good. I hit in the rough a couple of times and came out with bad lies.
“I’ve hit a lot of fairways the last two days and I’ve been playing much better today, at least. Struggled a little bit on the greens yesterday, and kind of changed my mindset, not hoping for it to go in and just try to hit good putts, and they went in today.”
Dan Bradbury: “I’ve come off a strong round last week at Carnoustie. Missed the cut but a lot of positive, and I managed to take them out into this week and played solid. Left a few out there yesterday. Probably could have been a couple better today but overall just very happy.”
Jesper Svensson: “A bit more shaky. But very happy to still be under par today. Yesterday, everything felt great with the game, and today, wasn’t really there. But still managed to make some really good shots and a few good putts.”
Grégory Havret: “This round was one of my best. I wanted to hard to make that cut. It wasn’t too bad yesterday, but my putting just left me and I was plus four.
“Honestly it feels like a victory because 5-under, to come back, make the cut in front of my whole family, I’m very happy to sign for two more days.”