Armitage holds lead as Winther charges in Paris

Stimpmeter · September 20, 2025, 6:30am

Marcus Armitage maintained his two-stroke lead at 10 under par as Jeff Winther surged into contention with a stunning second round at the FedEx Open de France.

Armitage and Min Woo Lee both carded 68s at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche to sit on 10 under and eight under respectively, with Winther’s 63 propelling him into joint second alongside the Australian.

Frenchman Adrien Saddier also made a significant move with a bogey-free 66 to climb into a tie for fourth on six under.

Five-time Major champion Brooks Koepka was in the group on five under, while Alexander Levy and Ugo Coussaud kept up a strong French challenge on four under along with South Africans Justin Harding and Jayden Schaper, who both carded 68s on Friday.

Defending champion Dan Bradbury made the cut on the number at level par.

Armitage started on the 10th and immediately birdied thanks to a superb approach. Another birdie at the 14th took him to nine under for the week and, despite dropped shots at the 2nd and 4th, he offset those with birdies at the 1st and 3rd.

A further gain at the par-four 6th moved him to 10 under for the third time in his round, and the Englishman parred his way home.

“It was a little bit of a battle today. For some reason my irons were just going miles. That bit of gym work I’ve started doing this week – it’s paying off already,” Armitage said.

“All in all, I kept my nose in front and hopefully we can keep going over the weekend. I ground it out, and that’s what golf’s about. Everyone’s great on the good days – it’s the bad days like that, if you can still shoot a score and keep yourself in it, then you just wait for the good days over the weekend.”

Winther began his round on the 10th with three straight birdies, capped by a 12-footer at the 12th. He added another at the 16th, then holed from the fringe at the 1st to move to five under.

A 17-foot putt at the 4th and back-to-back birdies at the 6th and 7th brought the course record of 62 into sight. A bogey at the 8th ended that bid, but he closed with his ninth birdie of the day.

“It was a great day today,” he said. “Made a lot of putts, played well. I got in a lot of good positions off the tee, which makes it crucial to go for the pins because they are tucked away here and there. You need to hit fairways here – otherwise you’re struggling.”

Lee responded to an opening bogey with four birdies, including a long putt at the 13th.

“It was just solid golf, which was nice,” he said. “When I had to hit some shots, I could, but I didn’t hit anything spectacular. That’s the reason I didn’t go too low.”

Saddier, fresh off a runner-up finish at last week’s BMW PGA Championship and a top-five at the Amgen Irish Open, carded five birdies to join compatriot Jeong weon Ko, Swedes Jens Dantorp and Mikael Lindberg, and Italy’s Gregorio De Leo on six under.

‘I got a really lucky bounce on 14 and chipped in on 15,’ Saddier said. ‘It was nice to get some luck. I played solid on my back nine and finished with two birdies to make a charge – so pretty good.’

Dantorp added: “This course is a bit sneaky in that way that you don’t always have to go for the flags. They look like you have to because it’s not that long, or you’re standing there with wedges, but you can pretty easily put yourself in bad spots. So staying patient and playing away from the pins sometimes is the key.”

Photo: Luke Walker/Getty Images

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