Remesy in form on home ground

The chance to become the first home winner of the French Open since 1969 simply inspired Jean-Francois Remesy today.

An eight-birdie 65 equalled the lowest round of his European tour career and took the 40-year-old from Nimes into a three-stroke lead over Australian Richard Green with a round to go at Le Golf National near Paris.

It could be just a two-man fight for a title worth nearly £330,000. Joint halfway leader Ian Woosnam is seven behind in third place after missing from under three feet at the last.

Remesy has won only one of 203 European tour events and that came five years ago after he very nearly gave up tournament golf.

After 12 consecutive visits to the qualifying school – and being successful at it only twice – he was on the brink of quitting, but a series of visits to a sports psychologist persuaded him to persevere.

Remesy did not even have a tour card when he captured the Estoril Open in Portugal, but has since proved that was not just a one-off.

He joined the tour’s ‘Millionaires Club’ last season and after finishing third in the Wales Open three weeks ago – his last start – he stands a best-ever 21st on the Order of Merit.

Even that, though, did not prepare anybody for how well he coped with the situation he found himself in today.

Ranked 161st in the world, he packed those eight birdies into the first 13 holes and at that point was five clear of the field. He was even thanking God for some of the putts he holed

A bad drive into the thick rough at the long 14th cost him a stroke, but unlike Woosnam he avoided all the water over the closing stretch.