Rasmus Hojgaard opens big lead at Open de France, Patrick Reed misses cut at Le Golf National

The Rasmus Hojgaard express continued its impressive progress at the Open de France, but Patrick Reed will not be around for the weekend after missing the cut at Le Golf National.

The Dane made seven birdies and one bogey in his round of 65, to sit at 15-under after two rounds – six shots clear of the field.

Backing up a brilliant round can often be tough, but Hojgaard once again made a difficult track look easy.

“The course still plays tricky, I just played good again,” Hojgaard said. “I hit a lot of greens, gave myself some good chances and kept the bogeys away more or less.

“Over the last few tournaments I have made a lot of birdies, just had too many bogeys or worse. I knew there was a lot of good stuff in there.”

Second Round Leaderboard

• 1. Rasmus Hojgaard, 15-under
• 2. Paul Barjon, nine-under
• 3. George Coetzee, eight-under
• T4. Alexander Bjork, seven-under
• T4. Antoine Rozner, seven-under
• 6. Mathieu Lafon-Decottignies, six-under
• T7. Thriston Lawrence, five-under
• T7. Yannik Paul, five-under
• T7. Robert MacIntyre, five-under
• T7. Grant Forrest, five-under
• T7. Thomas Pieters, five-under

While Hojgaard was revelling in his time in Paris, without being able to explore the sights, Reed will get the chance to visit a few museums, restaurants and attractions at the weekend after finishing 18 shots behind the Dane.

The LIV Golf player arrived in France with the intention of picking up world ranking points, as none are available on LIV at the present time, but he departed with zero to his name after missing the cut.

Reed will head to Scotland next week for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and could find himself outside the top 50 in the world on Monday.

While he may be six adrift of the leader, the home fans will have a player to cheer in the final group as Paul Barjon carded a 68 to add to an opening 65 to get to nine-under.

George Coetzee made nice progress into third place after a round of 66 on Friday took him to eight-under.