Romain storms to halfway lead at RAK Golf Challenge

Sport360 staff 23:31 27/10/2016
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  • Leading the way: Roman Langasque

    The Frenchman dropped a shot on the ninth but was otherwise flawless at Al Hamra Golf Club as he moved one shot clear of his nearest rivals and put himself in contention for a first European Challenge Tour title.

    It has been an outstanding maiden season in professional golf for the 21 year-old, featuring three runner-up finishes and three further top fives on the Road to Oman, and he knows a victory would be a fitting way to prepare for European Tour life next year.

    “It would be the perfect way to finish the year,” said the current rankings No.10. “It could be very interesting, if I won this week, to have a chance next week to win the Grand Final too.

    “Let’s see what happens this week first, I’m just going to do my best and have fun. If we think about objectives, of course, I want to win, but it’s not the first objective which is just to play my best every hole, and for the moment I’ve made a good start.

    “I just want to continue like this and stay patient – I thought too much about the win in Kazakhstan so this week I’ll try to go shot by shot and just do my best.

    “This is my first time here and we’re really lucky with this weather. The course is quite young I think but the design is very fun to play because you can make a lot of birdies but there’s strategy involved and you have to be patient too.

    “You have to be aggressive round here too, which is my natural game too – it suits me perfectly because I don’t have to change my style, I like that.

    “It’s a really fun place to play, and I played really well, I liked the course, so that’s two really good rounds to start this event and we will now have to see how the weekend goes.”

    Behind Langasque are Johan Edfors, who birdied five of his final six holes to get to ten under par alongside Garrick Porteous and overnight co-leader Pontus Widegren.

    One shot further back is a large group of players including Pep Angles, who made nine birdies on his way to a course record 64, and Jordan Smith, who is bidding to regain his No.1 rank.

    Alexander Knappe took the top spot for the first time last week but the German missed the cut in the northernmost of the United Arab Emirates, which fell at two under par, with 70 players – including 16 year-old amateur Rayhan Thomas – qualifying for the final 36 holes.

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