Fox on prowl for win after keeping lead

RYAN FOX continued his impressive form on European soil as the New Zealander maintained his lead at Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in France, following up his stunning opening 62 with a four-under-par 67 to remain one shot clear of the chasing pack.

The son of former All Blacks rugby legend Grant, Fox set a new course record at Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil on day one and he built on that strong start to keep his chase for a maiden Challenge Tour title – in just his fourth start – well on track.

The 28-year-old made the perfect start to his second round with a birdie at the first hole but two further birdies at the fourth and seventh holes were offset by bogeys at the sixth and eight, meaning he reached the turn in one under. He made gains though at the 12th, 16th and 17th to stay on top on 13 under par and keep alive his hopes of becoming the first Kiwi winner on the Challenge Tour since Gareth Paddison back in 2007 – coincidentally that victory came on French soil.

“It was a good day,” said Fox, who started his Challenge Tour career with two top-10 finishes before qualifying for Open Championship and making the cut at St Andrews last week.

“I had a couple of bad shots on the front nine where I got penalised and one bad shot on the back nine, but the rest was really good.”