Richard Sterne quickly moved into a two shot lead as the third round of the Alstom Open de France began at Le Golf National.
The South African, already a winner on home soil this year, birdied two of his first three holes to reach seven under par.
Initially that was good enough for a share of the lead with Fabrizio Zanotti, who birdied the long third. However, the Paraguayan followed that with a triple bogey seven at the fourth after driving into rough, pushing his approach right towards a road and into thick undergrowth forcing a return trip down the fairway to take a penalty drop. His second attempt fell short into a greenside bunker, from where he was unable to get up and down.
At five under he was tied for second with Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, with Graeme Storm and Stephen Gallacher a shot further back.
