Gregory

Bourdy

In his last 36 starts the Frenchman has lurched to just one top 30 – little wonder he lost his card in 2018. And yet, there maybe some hope this week. The first hint comes from the nature of the week, the link with the LET and LPGA, because Bourdy’s sister Melodie played on the LET. The second relates to the nature of the challenge (by the sea, fast running) and the pure look of the place. It calls to mind both Oitavos Dunes and East London, even with similar foliage around the fairways. Bourdy has three top tens at the former, including a win, and two at the latter, with a second place in there. He needs that hope.

Might this be the location for the start of the Frenchman’s career rebuild? He needs it. He plays this week on an invitation having lost his card in 2018, finishing 170th on the Race to Dubai after 14 straight years on the European Tour. He was T11 at Valderrama in October, a last desperate hurrah at card-saving, but that was his only top 30 of the season and he hasn’t had a top ten since October 2017 and only two since June 2016. He’s opened 2019 with T70-MC-T43 which is not much to write home about but here’s where the hope lies: He has five top 30s from seven starts at Leopard Creek, four of them were T15 or better and what’s more he was T3 in 2012 and T2 in 2015.

Bourdy took the trophy here in 2009 when shooting 19-under, the third of his four European Tour wins. His last came in 2013 but the consistency remained and he finished inside the top 100 on the Race to Dubai for 11 straight campaigns. That was until last season when he slumped to 170th, losing his card and failing to get it back at Q School (T57th) last week. Bourdy is 8-for-10 at the Hong Kong Open, owning four other top 25s alongside his win. He was T11 at Valderrama on his last start, not enough to keep his card but perhaps a sign that he still plays these tight, tree-lined tracks well.

The Frenchman is a very lowly 192nd on the Race to Dubai and on his 14th visit to the tournament he has three top 20s. There was T19 in 2008, T9 in 2009 and T4 last year. More recently he was T57 in the KLM Open in the Netherlands, but that was his only cut made in eight starts. He finished T30 the week after his T4 here last year (in Italy) but he has not been in the top 30 since.

The Frenchman started the final round in the penultimate group at Celtic Manor three swings adrift of 54-hole leader Peter Uihlein in the final pairing. Bourdy captured an eagle-3 the second hole to lay the groundwork for what would go in the books as a 4-under 34-33=71. Uihlein exhausted his overnight margin by the fourth hole after one birdie and two bogeys. Bourdy grabbed a two-shot lead with a birdie at 11 against Uihlein’s bogey at 10, but then bogeyed 13 and 14 to keep the American alive. After a par at 15, which Uihlein birdied, Bourdy closed birdie-birdie-birdie thanks to clutch putting. Uilhein parred 16 and picked up a birdie at 17 but suffered a bogey-6 at the last to cement his deficit. This marks the 31-year-old’s fourth European Tour victory. It’s his first since 2009.

The Frenchman is another who has found the Gil Hanse-designed Castle Stuart something of a conundrum, struggling to record finishes of MC-T49-T52-T49. It’s far from all bad however. He arrives in a run of form that sees him 11-for-12, a stretch that includes a rare visit to the PGA Tour, and a smart enough T35 at Coco Beach in the Puerto Rico Open. It’s far from an exact parallel, but blustery conditions and links-like rather than genuine linksland offer some sort of clue. He may also be emboldened by scratching two T18s into his log book at Oakmont and Baltusrol, the first top 20 finishes of his Major Championship career. Has finished T2 at both East London GC and Kuala Lumpur GC, both of which have paspalum grass on the greens, as does this week’s venue, the Olympic Golf Course.

The Frenchman dropped four shots with a 5 at the par-3 2nd hole and a 6 at the par-4 8th but circles at 1, 4 and 7 stopped him spiralling down the leaderboard. Bourdy then found a birdie at 12 before splashing red at 17 and 18 to arrive at 9-under 207. At close of play, that was just two swings behind Zander Lombard so the 34-year-old, who hit 13 greens in regulation for the third day running, is still right in the mix. In this event last year, Bourdy led after 54 holes before shooting a 78 on Sunday. He’ll hope to banish those memories in the best possible style tomorrow.

Given his mix of course and current form, the Frenchman was a popular pick for gamers this week and, so far, expectation and outcome are on the same path. Bourdy made a slow start with three pars and a bogey at 11 but got back into red figures for the day with successive birdies at 14 and 15. He picked up another shot at 2 and then put his approach at 9 to a couple of feet to sign off in style. Stats-wise, Bourdy only split 5 (of 14) fairways compared to 10 in his opening 68 but still managed to hit the same number of greens in regulation (13). He was 4-for-5 in scrambling today and is 7-for-10 in that category through 36 holes. He led this event by 4 strokes after 36 holes in 2015 before drifting backwards in round four - he’ll be hoping to avoid that error this weekend.

The Frenchman was one of 16 golfers to post sub-70 rounds on Thursday and he followed it up with another good one today. Today, he split 12 (of 13) fairways to kick the momentum rolling, but most of his damage was done with the flat stick. He saved par twice with putts in the 15-to-20 foot range and also splashed in a 13'10" birdie at the par-4 third. Through two rounds, he’s split 88.46% of fairways (23-of-26) and will keep his name in the mix over the weekend if he can maintain that accuracy off the tee.