Golfweek - Golf News Magazine

By TRUNG LATIEULE
Associated Press

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – Rafa Echenique held onto his lead at the French Open on Saturday, shooting a 1-under 70 for a one-stroke advantage over Martin Kaymer of Germany after the third round.

The Argentine was at 11-under 202 after starting the day with a two-stroke lead on Kaymer.

“Just a little nervous today,” said Echenique, who is seeking his first victory on the European Tour. “On No. 1, I missed a putt from one or two feet. I was not relaxed on the first three holes. But after that, I made long putts on the No. 4 and the No. 5.”

Paul Waring of England had a 68 to climb from seventh to third, two strokes off the lead and one better than compatriot Seve Benson, who also shot a 68.

Benson had a share of fourth with Richard Green of Australia (70) and Peter Hanson of Sweden (70).

England’s Lee Westwood (70) and Ian Poulter (66), four and five strokes back respectively, also remained in contention.

“I didn’t miss a fairway, I didn’t miss a green so it was pretty flawless,” said Poulter, a runner-up at the British Open last year. “Apart from the second shot into the last (hole), which I thought was pathetic, I was already thinking about my lunch. ... It was pretty clinical.”

Echenique was briefly caught by the chasing pack after the turn when he fell into a tie for the lead with Waring and Charl Schwartzel of South Africa at 10 under.

A runner-up at the BMW International Open in Munich last weekend, Echenique started his third round slowly with a bogey on the first hole.

Waring, ranked No. 130 on the European Tour, hit an approach from the rough that landed a few feet from the pin on No. 6 and helped him tie Echenique atop the leaderboard at 9 under.

But Echenique regained a two-stroke lead by sinking two straight birdies, including a 20-foot putt on the fourth.

Another bogey from Echenique on the eighth again cut his lead, allowing Schwartzel to pull even at 10 under with two consecutive birdies.

Waring picked up a shot on the 13th to join them, but he slipped back to third with a bogey on 14th, the longest hole at Golf National.

Schwartzel’s run was marred by three bogeys in four holes, dropping the South African to a share of seventh and leaving Echenique in charge.

Kaymer dropped a shot on his first hole, but played solidly the rest of the way. The European Tour’s 2007 rookie of the year sank two straight birdies – after an approach on the sixth that stopped one foot from the cup and a 13-foot putt on No. 7.

“There were a lot of very difficult pins today,” Kaymer said. “... I played very safe. It was pretty much my strategy for today and it’s going to be the same for tomorrow.”

---

Scores with relation to par from the third round of the French Open, played July 4 at the par-71, 7,300-yard Le Golf National (Albatross) in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France:

1. Rafa Echenique	65-67-70--202			-11
2. Martin Kaymer	62-72-69--203			-10
3. Paul Waring	66-70-68--204			-9
4. Seve Benson	70-67-68--205			-8
4. Richard Green	68-67-70--205			-8
4. Peter Hanson	65-70-70--205			-8
7. Robert-Jan Derksen	67-71-68--206			-7
7. Charl Schwartzel	68-66-72--206			-7
7. Lee Westwood	68-68-70--206			-7
10. Ian Poulter	72-69-66--207			-6
11. Jamie Donaldson	69-71-68--208			-5
11. Thongchai Jaidee	65-75-68--208			-5
11. Francesco Molinari	67-70-71--208			-5
11. Colin Montgomerie	69-74-65--208			-5
11. Alvaro Quiros	72-71-65--208			-5
11. Graeme Storm	69-72-67--208			-5
11. Scott Strange	65-72-71--208			-5
11. Steve Webster	69-65-74--208			-5
19. Phillip Archer	69-73-67--209			-4
19. Kenneth Ferrie	70-68-71--209			-4
19. Anders Hansen	69-72-68--209			-4
19. Richard Sterne	70-70-69--209			-4
19. Danny Willett	68-71-70--209			-4
24. Alejandro Canizares	67-72-71--210			-3
24. Darren Clarke	73-69-68--210			-3
24. Ricardo Gonzalez	67-74-69--210			-3
24. Soren Kjeldsen	70-71-69--210			-3
24. Gary Orr	73-70-67--210			-3
29. Gregory Bourdy	69-71-71--211			-2
29. Magnus A. Carlsson	69-71-71--211			-2
29. Nick Dougherty	66-76-69--211			-2
29. Gonzalo Fdez-Castano	70-72-69--211			-2
29. Soren Hansen	68-71-72--211			-2
29. David Horsey	72-71-68--211			-2
29. Jean-Francois Lucquin	70-72-69--211			-2
29. Gareth Maybin	69-71-71--211			-2
29. Damien McGrane	70-72-69--211			-2
29. Daniel Vancsik	72-67-72--211			-2
29. Marc Warren	68-72-71--211			-2
40. Raphael Jacquelin	72-70-70--212			-1
40. Paul Lawrie	67-74-71--212			-1
40. Shane Lowry	69-72-71--212			-1
40. David Lynn	69-74-69--212			-1
40. Oliver Wilson	72-69-71--212			-1
45. Paul Broadhurst	73-69-71--213			E
45. Francois Delamontagne	75-68-70--213			E
45. Mark Foster	69-74-70--213			E
45. Ignacio Garrido	74-66-73--213			E
45. Miguel Angel Jimenez	67-73-73--213			E
45. James Kingston	71-70-72--213			E
45. Jose Manuel Lara	70-72-71--213			E
45. Peter Lawrie	71-71-71--213			E
45. Gary Lockerbie	68-75-70--213			E
45. Chapchai Nirat	70-72-71--213			E
45. Steven O'Hara	71-72-70--213			E
45. Jean Van de Velde	67-75-71--213			E
57. David Drysdale	67-76-71--214		+	1
57. Niclas Fasth	71-72-71--214		+	1
57. Marcus Fraser	68-74-72--214		+	1
57. Peter Hedblom	73-70-71--214		+	1
57. Pablo Larrazabal	67-73-74--214		+	1
57. Hennie Otto	74-67-73--214		+	1
63. Benn Barham	68-74-73--215		+	2
63. Barry Lane	70-71-74--215		+	2
63. Thomas Levet	67-73-75--215		+	2
63. Pablo Martin	71-72-72--215		+	2
63. Ross McGowan	69-72-74--215		+	2
63. Jose Maria Olazabal	74-69-72--215		+	2
69. Philip Golding	71-72-73--216		+	3
69. Miguel Angel Martin	72-71-73--216		+	3
69. Robert Rock	70-70-76--216		+	3
72. John Bickerton	65-77-75--217		+	4
72. Thomas Bjorn	70-70-77--217		+	4
72. Alastair Forsyth	72-69-76--217		+	4
72. Sam Little	67-75-75--217		+	4
76. Mads Vibe-Hastrup	68-75-75--218		+	5
77. S.S.P. Chowrasia	69-73-77--219		+	6
78. Paul Nilbrink	73-69-79--221		+	8
• • •
Missed the cut
79. Felipe Aguilar	71-73--144		+	2
79. Markus Brier	73-71--144		+	2
79. Bradley Dredge	73-71--144		+	2
79. Michael Hoey	71-73--144		+	2
79. Michael Jonzon	71-73--144		+	2
79. Shiv Kapur	72-72--144		+	2
79. Simon Khan	71-73--144		+	2
79. Peter O'Malley	73-71--144		+	2
79. Richie Ramsay	71-73--144		+	2
79. Alvaro Velasco	69-75--144		+	2
79. Simon Wakefield	70-74--144		+	2
90. Angel Cabrera	75-70--145		+	3
90. Stephen Dodd	70-75--145		+	3
90. Tano Goya	72-73--145		+	3
90. Alexander Noren	68-77--145		+	3
90. Eduardo Romero	75-70--145		+	3
90. Jarmo Sandelin	71-74--145		+	3
90. Jeev Milkha Singh	68-77--145		+	3
97. Federico Cabrera	70-76--146		+	4
97. Simon Dyson	73-73--146		+	4
97. Oliver Fisher	71-75--146		+	4
97. Jean-Baptiste Gonnet	71-75--146		+	4
97. Michael Lorenzo-Vera	73-73--146		+	4
97. Brett Rumford	70-76--146		+	4
97. Alessandro Tadini	70-76--146		+	4
104. Daniel Brooks	74-73--147		+	5
104. David Dixon	74-73--147		+	5
104. Richard Finch	72-75--147		+	5
104. Padraig Harrington	72-75--147		+	5
104. Mikko Ilonen	70-77--147		+	5
104. Graeme McDowell	72-75--147		+	5
104. Paul McGinley	72-75--147		+	5
104. Andrew McLardy	72-75--147		+	5
104. Raul Quiros	72-75--147		+	5
104. Jean-Francois Remesy	74-73--147		+	5
114. Scott Drummond	72-76--148		+	6
114. Phillip Price	74-74--148		+	6
114. Marco Ruiz	71-77--148		+	6
114. Lee Slattery	73-75--148		+	6
114. Miles Tunnicliff	71-77--148		+	6
119. Scott Arnold	71-78--149		+	7
119. Jose-Filipe Lima	74-75--149		+	7
119. Taco Remkes	70-79--149		+	7
122. Rhys Davies	77-73--150		+	8
122. Julien Guerrier	75-75--150		+	8
122. Jyoti Randhawa	76-74--150		+	8
125. Rafael Cabrera-Bello	71-80--151		+	9
125. Emanuele Canonica	77-74--151		+	9
125. Martin Erlandsson	80-71--151		+	9
125. Anton Haig	77-74--151		+	9
125. Maarten Lafeber	75-76--151		+	9
125. Louis Oosthuizen	74-77--151		+	9
125. Fabrizio Zanotti	75-76--151		+	9
132. Mark Brown	79-73--152		+	10
132. Gregory Havret	77-75--152		+	10
132. Cedric Menut	69-83--152		+	10
132. Anthony Snobeck	72-80--152		+	10
136. Robert Dinwiddie	74-79--153		+	11
136. Stephen Gallacher	74-79--153		+	11
136. Marcus Higley	81-72--153		+	11
136. Nicolas Joakimides	79-74--153		+	11
136. Damien Perrier	75-78--153		+	11
141. Michael Campbell	75-79--154		+	12
141. Anthony Kang	78-76--154		+	12
141. Mikael Lundberg	76-78--154		+	12
141. Gary Murphy	74-80--154		+	12
141. Wade Ormsby	72-82--154		+	12
146. Jeppe Huldahl	77-78--155		+	13
146. Per-Ulrik Johansson	76-79--155		+	13
148. David Frost	76-80--156		+	14
148. Malcolm Mackenzie	74-82--156		+	14
150. Alex Larrazabal	78-79--157		+	15
151. Pelle Edberg	78-84--162		+	20
WD. John Daly
WD. Marcel Siem	81-WD
WD. Benoit Teilleria	78-WD
WD. Anthony Wall	73-WD
DQ. David Howell	74-DQ

Posted: 7/4/2009

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