Romain

Langasque

There were 11 missed cuts in total for Langasque last season, as the 26-year-old failed to see the weekend with some regularity. However, when and where he did may suggest he will find success at Randpark Golf Club as his lone top 5 finish of the season came in the continent of Africa in late March at the Magical Kenya Open. Struggling ever since, Langasque appeared to find something in his game at the difficult Andalucia Masters in the middle of October. Finishing in a tie for 11th, Langasque has since collected finishes of T-34, T-26, and T-31. Gaining strokes off-the-tee through a blend of power and accuracy in his last nine measured events, that type of play should suit this week’s challenge and aid Langasque in his quest to continue this run of form into the new season.

The Frenchman was one of three golfers to test positive for COVID-19 ahead of last week’s Golf in Dubai Championship (Tom Lewis, Ondrej Lieser). He’s feeling fine but will be forced to sit this week out as well. Using a translation of his most recent social media post, “I’ve been isolated in my room for nine days now and despite the fact that I have no symptoms, the Dubai authorities will not allow me to take the start on Thursday morning.” It was a disappointing finish to the season for him but there is plenty to be happy about moving forward. He broke through with his first European Tour win earlier this year at the Wales Open. Gamers should remove him from all weekly lineups, though.

That puts the World No. 119 from France just a single swing back from joint-leaders Andy Sullivan and Jorge Campillo at halfway. Langasque opened his day at Education City GC with three pars before his first pair of birdies on the par-3 4th and par-4 5th. Then came the main flurry of 2s. He birdied the par 3s at 9 and 12 and eagled the par-4 12th and made it 6-under in six holes with further red at 13 and 14. That briefly tied him for the lead before he slipped back with bogey at 16. Langasque has missed his last two cuts (Saudi and Oman) since T27 in Dubai so this has been a nice return to form so far.

The Frenchman has experience of two outings here, the first in the 2016 Challenge Tour Grand Final, when he was T44, the second in last year’s edition of this event when he was T45. Can he break the top 40? His form since this event last year suggests he can because although he had already made a few top 20s that season, he had never maintained that at the highest level in his career. Since then, however, he has. He landed six top tens last year and although he is yet to record one this campaign he is 3-for-4 and he is threatening to break the higher echelons of the leaderboard. He was T1 after R1 of the Mauritius Open (T26 by the end of the week), T34 in Abu Dhabi and T5 at halfway in the Dubai Desert Classic before logging T27.

The Frenchman began to deliver on his promise last season, retaining his card with no bother and racking up 11 top 25 finishes. He hasn’t managed one in 2020, but he’s come mighty close, ticking off three finishes one or two shots outside that mark and each time he threatened to contend. He held the Mauritius Open first round lead ahead of logging T26, was T14 after 54 holes in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship but finished T34, and was T5 at halfway in the Dubai Desert Classic only to slip to T27. Last year he only broke par in round one in Saudi Arabia and ended the week T44.

That’s two swings back from pacesetter Eddie Pepperell with the afternoon wave in play. The front nine is the harder test at Emirates GC and that’s been reflected in the scores so far. However, Frenchman Langasque has so far played 1-9 in 6-under and 10-18 in even par. He opened his day with a trio of pars but followed that steady start with a hat-trick of birdies at 4, 5 and 6. That should have set him up nicely for a further push on the back but, after a red number at No. 10, he couldn’t find another birdie and his only deviation from par was bogey-5 at 14. Obviously, if Langasque can make a better job on the back, which has three par 5s, he could be a real dangerman this weekend. The World No. 110 was T20 on his Dubai Desert Classic debut last season so clearly enjoys this event. He arrived on the back of T34 in Abu Dhabi last Sunday.

The Frenchman will head into the second round on the Majlis Course at Emirates GC just two swings back of the early pace-setter Thomas Pieters after this up and down affair in difficult conditions. He opened on the easier back nine and made two steps forward with birdies at the 11th and 13th, but then made two steps back at the 14th and 15th. He then defied that tricky front nine despite making bogey at the first. He countered with par breakers at the second, third, fifth and eighth. He finished T20 in his only previous tournament start 12 months ago.

The 24-year-old carded three 67s and a 69 to take third place when the course last staged this event two years ago while he also posted T23 (R3 65) at Anahita 12 months ago. He fired his lowest 18 at Heritage by outpacing a lone bogey at 13 with seven birdies. His set of red numbers included birdies on all four par 5s (2, 7, 14 and 18) and further gains at 9, 12 and 16. The World No. 111 is coming off a breakout season which saw him finish 24th on last season’s Race to Dubai after a second and two thirds. He’s won once at Challenge Tour level but is still seeking a first European Tour win. This is the first time he’s had a piece of the 18-hole lead on the ET.

On his tournament debut in 2016 Langasque managed to finish T33 which, given that so many of his countrymen struggle (repeatedly) at the course, represented something of a minor triumph. It has proved to be a mirage however. He did manage a second round 65 the following year but struggled the rest of the week in collecting T50 and he missed the cut 15 months ago. He’s never broken par in round one so is always up against it from the get-go. His T17 at Wentworth was a ninth top 25 of the campaign, but he has followed it with missed cuts in the Dunhill Links and the Italian Open.