Marcel Siem continued to lead the way in the Alstom Open de France, but several players were in close contention on day three at Le Golf National.

For the second day in succession, South Africa’s George Coetzee, four under overnight, picked up shots at the first and third holes.

That moved him alongside overnight leader Siem, but the German also made four at the long third to retain a one-shot advantage at the top of the leaderboard.

At seven under, Siem was two ahead of Scandinavian duo Alexander Noren and Anders Hansen, while Raphaël Jacquelin held sole possession of fifth on four under.

On a day when low scoring had not been anticipated, there had been numerous surges up the leaderboard this morning.

One of those came from the winner of this event in 1999, Reteif Goosen. After kicking off the tournament with a 77 on Thursday, he followed yesterday’s 68 with a 67 containing six birdies.

That left him in a tie for 12th on one under, the same score as Johan Edfors, who bounced back from a double bogey at four with five birdies in his next nine holes.