World amateur team: France in ambush

Before the last round of the Men’s World Amateur Team Championship, this Saturday on the Albatros at the Golf National, the suspense remains as five nations are held in 2 small points. Behind Sweden (-23), which managed a fantastic comeback to take the lead thanks to an impressive day in -14 (Tobias Jonsson, -8, and Ludvig Aberg, -6), point indeed Italy , Japan and the United States at -22, and France, in ambush, at -21.

Leaving in the company of the Japanese and the Italians, this Friday on the course of Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, the Blues represented by Tom Vaillant, Julien Sale and Martin Couvra, kept the rhythm of the first two rounds even if they won from the podium. Thanks to a chip returned on hole n°18, Julien Sale returned a card of 69 (-3), a better shot from Tom Vaillant (-2) for a total of -5. Remember that the two best cards of the trio of players are used for the cumulative score of each day.

Very impressive on Wednesday and Thursday, thanks to the solid Taiga Semikawa (63 and 65), the Japanese leaders marked time despite the latter’s 69, while Italy stayed the course, well helped by Pietro’s impeccable first leg Bovari (1 eagle, 3 birdies) and the magic of Filippo Celli in the short game (-2) which allowed him to get out of complicated situations by his risky face-offs.

Everything is still possible for France to get on the podium at home, after a final lap that promises to be thrilling. And why not succeed Denmark, the last winner of the Eisenhower Trophy ahead of the United States and Spain in 2018.