Staff WriterRobin Sciot-Siegrist has turned the Le Vaudreuil Challenge into his personal stage show—and this week, the Frenchman’s script reads: unfinished business, home crowd, and one very shiny trophy.
After carding back-to-back scores of 65 and 66, he’s sitting pretty at 13 under par, three strokes clear heading into the weekend at Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil.
The 31-year-old left-hander is no stranger to this stage. He was heartbreakingly close three years ago, falling in a play-off on the same course. Now, he’s got a stranglehold on the leaderboard, and the HotelPlanner Tour might just have its next hometown hero.
“I’m very happy with what I’ve done over the past few days and I’m looking forward to the weekend,” said Sciot-Siegrist.
“It could be very crowded around here, so it’s going to be good. I’m just really happy that there will be a lot of people and a lot of friends and family here watching.”
Translation: the man’s dialled in, the crowd’s rolling in, and the baguette-fuelled buzz around Le Vaudreuil Challenge is building.
Starting on the back nine, Sciot-Siegrist wasted no time. Birdies on three of his first four holes gave the leaderboard writers an early headache.
A lone bogey at the 14th briefly halted his rhythm, but back-to-back red numbers at 15 and 18 ensured he turned four under. From there, he coasted—with birdies at the fifth and the par-four ninth capping off a slick 66.
“I played solid again today,” he said, with the understatement of the round. “I was quite strategic and hit some good shots when they were needed. It was a good round of golf.”
The strategy, he says, is in respecting the course. “The greens are small, so I like the fact you can aim at the middle of the green and then have a decent putt for birdie,” he added.
“There’s a couple of funky holes, and you need to hit some good shots, but if you can do that, you give yourself a really good chance to make a score out here.”
Behind him, Scotsman Daniel Young sits in solo second at ten under, doing everything but blinking. He’ll play alongside Sciot-Siegrist in the final group on Saturday at 1:45 pm local time.
Meanwhile, there’s a six-way traffic jam at eight under, including Austrian Maximilian Steinlechner—who aced the par-three fifth—and a well-decorated cast featuring Englishmen James Allan and Steven Brown, Welshman Oliver Farr, France’s own Clement Charmasson, and Scotland’s Jack McDonald.
One shot further back are Spaniards Joseba Torres, Lucas Vacarisas, and Rocco Repetto Taylor, along with England’s ever-unpredictable Eddie Pepperell.
But all eyes are on Sciot-Siegrist. The man’s been here before. He knows the sting of almost. And this time, with a crowd at his back and confidence in his swing, he’s not looking to settle for second.
“Winning on home soil is something different. It would be incredible. I came close a couple of years ago and at the time I was really gutted to miss out. It would mean the world to me.”
Come Sunday, he might just get it.
