Jon Rahm was certain the HNA Open de France would produce a truly worthy winner as Le Golf National continued to test the world's best at the third Rolex Series event of the season.
On a day of lower winds and with some tee-boxes brought forward, the Paris layout was not as intimidating on day two as it had been on Thursday, with Rahm following up an opening 70 with a 69.
That put the Spaniard right in contention to claim a third Rolex Series win in 12 months but he did not have it all his own way in the French capital.
His round contained two bogeys and a double but the 23 year old was not disappointed with that as he got to three under on one of European golf's toughest courses.
“I did finish top ten last year and I'm playing good so far,” he said.
“I do enjoy this type of golf and the reason why is because everybody has got to hit good shots. It's golf, you're going to make bogeys, I think it's virtually impossible to go bogey-free here. If you can go nine holes without making a bogey, you're playing really good golf.
“In my mind it's more how golf is supposed to be played. I feel like the most talented men of the weeks are the ones playing in difficult conditions. The win is really deserved.”
Rahm had a roller coaster on the back nine, sandwiching birdies on the 11th and 13th with a bogey on the tenth and a double on the 15th to turn in 36.
He went birdie-bogey on the first and second but then played the third perfectly, hitting the green in two and holing a 15-footer for eagle. A run of four pars followed before he put his tee-shot on the eighth to ten feet for a fourth birdie of the day.
“The course was probably three shots easier than yesterday,” he said. “They put a couple of tees forward which was a lot less wind, I played early in the morning when the greens were perfect.
“So shot one shot better but actually played a lot worse and I was able to scramble a couple of holes. Probably about as low a round as I could have done today.”
