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Leaders look tough to oppose
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European Ryder Cup team player profiles
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USA Ryder Cup team player profiles
19:25 - September 20, 2025
After a level par 71 around Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche in round three, the first and second round leader, Marcus Armitage, has been caught and passed by two class acts at the Open de France, the five-time major winner, Brooks Koepka, and my halfway pick, Min Woo Lee, and the market is struggling to separate the pair. Here's the 54-hole leaderboard with prices to back at 19:20.
Min Woo Lee -11 3.953/1
Brooks Koepka -11 4.03/1
Michael Kim -10 6.86/1
Guido Migliozzi -10 9.08/1
Marcus Armitage -10 14.013/1
Elvis Smylie -9 15.014/1
Jeong Weon Ko -9 40.039/1
Darius Van Driel -8 50.049/1
Freddy Schott -8 100.099/1
Antoine Rozner -7 60.059/1
-7 and 95.094/1 bar
As highlighted this morning, this is the first DP World Tour event to be staged at Nom-La-Bretèche since the final edition of the Trophée Lancôme back in 2003, but we can look back on that event for clues, and it looks like we can't scan too far down the leaderboard with just 18 holes to play.
I've looked back on the last 10 editions of that event, and nine of the 10 winners were sitting first or second with a round to go. And the odd man out, Mark O'Meara in 1997, sat third, trailing the joint leaders by a stroke.
Having talked up his chances when he was trading at 25/126.00, I'm kicking myself for not adding Koepka this morning, but we shouldn't be surprised to see the former world number one sitting alongside Min Woo Lee, as class acts won here year after year when it hosted the Trophée Lancôme.
Seve, who also won this event here in 1982, has five victories at the course in total and a myriad of major champions claimed the Trophée Lancôme title.
It was a limited field event in the early days so it's hardly surprising to see a list of winners that looks like a who's who of world golf but after it became a full field event in 1982, major winners, Seve (three times) Sandy Lyle, Nick Price, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam (twice), Jose Maria Olazabal, Vijay Singh, Mark O'Meara, Retief Goosen (twice) and Sergio Garcia all won here, as did class acts Colin Montgomerie and Miguel Angel Jimenez, so the cream really has risen to the top here over the years.
It's hard to look past the two leaders and I'm a little surprised that Lee is just edging Koepka at the head of the market.
Koepka has been brilliant in-contention for a very long time, and he has a terrific record when leading.
He's won all three of the LIV Golf events he's led with a round to go, although he was three in front on each occasion, and he's won nine of the 12 72-hole events in which he's either been clear or tied at the top with round to go.
He's been in poor form for most of 2025, failing to record a single top-10 finish since finishing second in Singapore in March, and he came into the event on the back of two missed cuts, but he's going to take some beating now in contention.
Lee has a decent record in-contention himself though and the fact that he's won more recently than Koepka, and that he's been playing better than the American in the last few months, bodes well for the Australian.
Lee has won four of the seven events in which he has led or been tied for the lead with 18 to play, and everything points to the pair fighting out the finish.
Trading at around 11/26.50, Michael Kim is commanding plenty of respect, and another player I mentioned at halfway, Guido Migliozzi, is only one back but given the in-running trends at the previous events here, and the class of the leading pair, I fancy one of the front two to get the job done.
Koepka recorded his first birdie of the day at the fifth hole on Friday, following four pars, but he's started slowly in rounds one and three (level par after eight holes on both occasions) so I'm going to see how he starts round four.
He hasn't been in the thick of it since August last year so he may take a little while to get going tomorrow and that might provide an opportunity to get him onside.
Although history suggests that up with the pace is the place to be here, I'm happy to throw a few pounds in the direction of Kristoffer Reitan again.
I backed him with a round to go at Wentworth last week at 250.0249/1 and he was matched at a low of 18.535/2 before a double bogey at nine derailed his charge but he loves a Sunday run from off the pace and he looks a fair price at in excess of 100/1101.00 given he sits tied for 13th and five off the lead.
Back Kristoffer Reitan
Reitan won the Soudal Open in May having sat tied for 22nd and nine of the lead with 18 to play and he finished second the following week in Austria after shooting 60 on Sunday.
08:40 - September 20, 2025
Pre-event 300.0299/1 chance, Marcus Armitage, backed up Thursday's seven-under-par 64 around Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche with a very respectable 68 in round two of the Open de France yesterday and he heads into the weekend with a two-stroke lead. Here's the 36-hole leaderboard with prices to back at 8:30.
Marcus Armitage -10 5.59/2
Min Woo Lee -8 4.77/2
Jeff Winther -8 10.09/1
Adrien Saddier -6 11.010/1
Mikael Lindberg -6 36.035/1
Gregorio De Leo -6 55.054/1
Jens Dantorp -6 60.059/1
Jeong Weon Ko -6 75.074/1
Michael Kim -5 24.023/1
Brooks Koepka -5 26.025/1
Niklas Norgaard -5 34.033/1
Elvis Smylie -5 36.035/1
Guido Migliozzi -5 36.035/1
Todd Clements -5 46.045/1
Freddy Schott -5 150.0149/1
-4 and 50.049/1 bar
This is the first DP World Tour event to be staged at Nom-La-Bretèche since the final edition of the Trophée Lancôme back in 2003, but I've looked back on the last 10 editions of that event and seven of the 10 winners sat first or second at halfway.
The final winner of the Trophée Lancôme, Retief Goosen, won wire-to wire, and an argument can be made for backing Armitage to emulate him at around 9/25.50 but he's not for me at that price.
The Bullet's sole success on the DP World Tour came at the Porsche European Open in 2021 but that event was reduced to 54 holes and he was trailing by four and outside the top 10 after two rounds.
Armitage led the Ras Al Khaimah Championship by two at halfway in January, but he finished second to Alejandro Del Rey, beaten by four strokes, and on the two occasions that he's been tied for the lead at this stage on the DP World Tour previously he went on to finish 12th and 13th.
The world number 43, Min Woo Lee, who trails Armitage by two, is the favourite with two rounds to go and rightfully so.
The 27-year-old Aussie won the Houston Open on the PGA Tour back in March and he's a three-time winner on the DP World Tour.
He's generally a 10/34.33 chance on the High Street so the 4.77/2 on offer on the Exchange is perfectly fair.
Back Min Woo Lee
The 1999 winner of the Trophée Lancôme, Pierre Fulke, sat 10th and six off the lead and Goosen sat 32nd and seven adrift when he won here for the first time in 2000 so although the majority of course winners here are in the van throughout, we can't rule out an off the pace winner and there are plenty of candidates to choose from.
I was very tempted by the five-time major winner, Brooks Koepka, at 25/126.00 but he ranks 115th for Driving Accuracy at the midway point and his inability to keep it in the fairway is a big concern.
The prolific Italian, Guido Migliozzi, loves a tree-lined venue and the Soudal Open winner, Kristoffer Reitan, is an off the pace specialist, but after much deliberation, I'm happy to keep things simple and play only the favourite.
At the halfway stage, Lee ranks inside the top 10 for Driving Distance, Driving Accuracy, Greens In Regulation and Putting Average so his whole game is in good shape and he's the man to beat.