'A Saturday I won't forget' - Johannes Veerman shines in France

Johannes Veerman enjoyed a long but rewarding day as he narrowly made the cut at the 2024 FedEx Open de France - and then celebrated by shooting 63.

Veerman had to return early in the morning as the only player still to finish the final hole of his second round when Friday's play was suspended.

Though he made a bogey, it was enough to see him make the cut right on the line at one under par and he capitalised in his third round.

Starting on the back nine, he sparked his round into life with three successive birdies from the 13th - the first two after approaches to around a foot.

Another gain at the 17th saw him out in four under and he matched that coming home with another hat-trick of birdies from the third - where he again sent his approach right at the flag - and a 10-foot putt at his last hole, the ninth.

That left him in a tie for 11th place with Gavin Green, Fabrizio Zanotti and Rasmus Højgaard, four shots behind leader Jesper Svensson.

"It was a long day," he said. "I was the only guy that didn't finish yesterday and I had to get up and down on 18 to make the cut on the number so the whole night last night I just thought about trying to make it and get it up and down.

"And then to back it up and shoot eight under is pretty surreal! Definitely a Saturday I probably won't forget.

"I played so nice, I played so well. It's a pretty tough course, a lot of pins were three or four from the edges, there's a ton of hazard out here, and I kept finding the middle of the fairway and I kept putting it on the green really close, and it kept going in!

"It's just one of those days where it kind of went my way and I had a great time doing it."

Put to him that a similar round tomorrow would give him a good chance of victory, he laughed: "Yeah, I hope so! That'd be crazy."