Jaidee takes charge in Paris

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bruced
July 2, 2016

Thongchai Jaidee will take a two-shot lead over Rory McIlroy into Sunday's final round of the 100th Open de France.

The Thai veteran was the only player in the entire field to avoid a bogey at Le Golf National on a difficult day for scoring, as he posted a three-under-par 68 to move to eight under par for the tournament.

That left him two strokes clear of four-time major champion Rory McIlroy, whose one-under-par 70 doesn't begin to tell the story of his round.

McIlroy was four over par through his first nine holes after a horror run that included three bogeys and a double-bogey six at the first, but totally turned it around after the turn, picking up five birdies to salvage his day's work and ensure he is still in with a real chance of victory.

"You saw two ends of the spectrum there," McIlroy said after his round. "There was the front nine where there was nothing fluid at all about what I was doing and then the back nine when I started to get some confidence is when it went the opposite way, it went the best way it could.

"I guess it just shows a little bit of the fragile state of my game at the minute. The good's really good and the bad – it's pretty bad.

"I knew what was going on, especially when Wang was four under through the first seven holes," he said. "I was like, 'he's playing a different golf course than I am'.

"I thought if I could get back to even par for the day, that was my goal after nine holes and I did one better than that, so I'm obviously very pleased."

McIlroy shares second place with impressive young South Korean Jeunghun Wang, who picked up four birdies prior to the turn to take the sole lead, before stumbling with three bogeys on the back nine for an eventual round of 70.

"I had a great front nine with my four birdies," said Wang. "I had three bogeys and I felt a little bit down, but that's okay, I have tomorrow.

"I don't have any pressure right now. Before I did but not anymore. I'll just try to enjoy this golf course and try to make birdie every time."

The duo are one shot clear of Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, while as many as five players follow on three under, five shots back – Brandon Stone, Andy Sullivan, Joost Luiten, Alex Noren and Martin Kaymer, who rose 20 places up the leaderboard with his 68.

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