Paul Broadhurst, a member of Europe’s 1991 Ryder Cup side, will take a one shot lead over America’s John Daly into the final round of the Paris Legends Championship at Le Golf National, exactly one year before the final day of The 2018 Ryder Cup at the same venue.
The Englishman, who started the day with a three shot lead, carded a two under par second round of 70, which included birdies on the 15thand 18thholes, for a nine under par total.
With four victories on both sides of the Atlantic since turning 50 in 2015, Broadhurst will be bidding for his fifth title on the course where he won the Open de France in 1995.
“I’m pretty happy; it was a day for patience,” said Broadhurst. “I didn’t hit it particularly close all the way round, I kept hitting it to 30 feet and not having any chances.
“Other people were making moves and I had to stay patient and hope to pick a few shots up towards the end, which I did.”
A winner already this season at the Scottish Senior Open, Broadhurst, who won the John Jacobs Trophy for finishing first on the European Senior Tour Order of Merit last year, hopes to draw from that experience.
“It’s a different course to Renaissance Club; that closing stretch is quite demanding,” said Broadhurst. “It’ll be an interesting day tomorrow, but hopefully we’ll have some fun.
“I’m not sure you can have a game plan when you’ve got a one shot lead though. I need to go out and shoot a low one – three or four under, I imagine. If I play poorly, I’m not going to win so I’ll have to go out there and give it my best shot.”
Daly missed an eagle putt on the 18th hole, settling for his fifth birdie of the day, as he moved to one shot behind Broadhurst.
“The course played a little harder today,” said Daly. “I hung in there and didn’t hit it as well as I did yesterday but I made a lot of good saves.
“My short game was really good, I got up and down four or five times and managed to make some key putts. Paul is playing good, so it makes you hang in there. Magnus (P Atlevi) played well too, so we fed off each other.
“It will be exciting tomorrow. Alexis (Sikorsky) is one of my big sponsors and has put this tournament on, it would be great to win this one for him.”
Joining Broadhurst and Daly in Saturday’s final group will be double Senior Major winner Roger Chapman on seven under par. One shot further back are the trio of Stephen Dodd, James Kingston and Jarmo Sandelin.
