Cazoo Open de France - Day two digest

Everything you need to know from day two at Le Golf National.

Jordan Smith surged ahead, Raphaël Jacquelin said goodbye, Ewen Ferguson was inspired by a friend and there was some magic from the sand in round two of the Cazoo Open de France.

Here is everything you need to know from Friday at Continental Europe's oldest open.

Smith makes big move

Jordan Smith will take a three-shot lead into the weekend after carding a 64 on day two at Le Golf National. The Englishman birdied five of his first six holes to hit the front and then tackled the tough back nine in 33 to get to 12 under and take control. Scotland's Ewen Ferguson was then at nine under, two shots clear of local favourite Julien Brun, Japan's Ryo Hisatsune, Dane Nicolai Højgaard, South African Zander Lombard, England's Richard Mansell and German Yannik Paul. Smith said: “I hit some awesome iron shots. The challenge was mainly the wind, a lot of the time it was a crosswind so you were trying to work out whether it was hurting a little bit or helping a little bit so I’m really happy with the way I’m playing."

Jacquelin enjoys magic moment

Home hero Jacquelin enjoyed his "best memory on Tour" as he walked up the 18th to a rapturous ovation with his family in his final appearance at his home open. Since graduating from the European Challenge Tour in 1997, the Frenchman has played 680 DP World Tour events - this week is his 681st - winning four times and finishing inside the top 100 on the Rankings every year between 2000 and 2016. He has also played in his home open 25 times with a best finish of third in 2012, but he now bids farewell to the event before turning 50 in May next year. "It was great to have my wife on the bag on 18, we changed with my son," he said. "We had the four boys with me at the end, something different, and I wasn’t expecting it to be that difficult to finish on 18. It was very special to finish with the French Open. Even if I made a double-bogey on 18 that would be my best memory on Tour because my family was there."

Ferguson inspired by Syme success

Ferguson recovered from an opening double-bogey to card a 67 and become Smith's nearest challenger and revealed he had been taking inspiration from close friend Connor Syme. Syme may have missed the cut this week but he arrived in France off the back of four top tens and Ferguson has been keeping a close eye on his friend. “I’m just happy to be back in this position again," he said. "I’ve taken a lot from watching Connor Syme a lot the last few weeks. I’m best friends with Connor, I stayed at the weekend at Crans and watched his full round on Sunday, first shot to his last shot while playing with Matt Fitzpatrick and I loved the way he looked and carried himself out there. I watched him there, played a practice round with him this week and it’s good having friends like that where you can learn off them and see what they’re up to. That’s what I’ve been trying to do a little bit, got some motivation as well and it’s quite inspiring watching someone you’re so close with doing so well.”

Bunker magic

Brilliance from the sand comes in many different forms. Sometimes you hole out.

Sometimes you almost hole out.

And sometimes you just show amazing skill from a tricky spot.

Almost eagles

We didn't have one shot inches from a hole-out but two.

No putter required

Those ones were close. David Horsey found the cup.