Dunne facing uphill card battle

George Coetzee. Picture: Getty Images

Gavin Moynihan got off to a flyer but Paul Dunne faces an uphill battle to keep his European Tour card after opening with a six-over 77 in the Amundi Open de France in Paris.

The Greystones star (26) lies a tenuous 116th in the Race to Dubai with only the top 117 keeping their cards after next week's Portugal Masters.

He knows that he must at least make one of the last two cuts this year to avoid a trip to the Qualifying School.

But having missed 12 cuts this year, including six of his last seven, it will require a huge turnaround to make the weekend at Le Golf National.

The 2017 British Masters winner is 113th in the 117-strong field and projected to slip to 118th in the Race to Dubai.

While he was ranked first for strokes gained around the green yesterday, he was dead last for approach play, losing more than six strokes to the field after missing 11 greens in regulation.

Most of the damage was done midway through his opening nine when he followed a triple-bogey seven at the 15th (his sixth) with a double-bogeyed five at the 16th.

He dropped another shot at the first saw him slip to six-over and while he parred his way home, he's five shots outside the projected cut line.

His former Walker Cup teammate Moynihan (25) has even more work to do to keep his card as he lies 162nd in the Race to Dubai.

The Portrane man likely needs top-five finishes in his last two events to avoid a return to the Qualifying School next month.

But he's given himself a chance after making four birdies and a bogey in a three-under 68 that left him tied for 13th, just three strokes behind Kiwi Ryan Fox and South Africa's George Coetzee.

"My long game was very solid and I putted nicely," said Moynihan, who turned in level par but then followed excellent par saves at his 10th, 11th and 13th holes with three birdies in his last five.

Coetzee and Fox shot six-under 65's to lead by a shot from American Kurt Kitayama, Scotland's Richie Ramsay and France's Benjamin Hebert.

Ryan Fox believes New Zealand will be "wary" of the threat from Joe Schimdt's charges in tomorrrow's Rugby World Cup quarter-final showdown in Japan.

Co-leader of the Open de France after opening with a six-under 65, the big-hitting New Zealander has the inside track into the All Blacks' camp as his father, 46-times capped former outhalf Grant Fox, is a current selector.

"I spoke to the old man the other day — he is up in Japan with the team — and he said they are in pretty good shape," Fox said.

"And he normally keeps his cards pretty close to his chest. So we are hoping for a decent All Blacks performance.

"But Ireland haven't quite fired in this World Cup yet, so you have got to be wary of them.

"They have been a very good team for a few years now and with Joe Schmidt, the Kiwi coach, finishing up now I am sure they want to do some damage to us on Saturday."

Fox Jnr (32) turned professional as a 25-year old late bloomer having given up rugby for golf.

"Too many concussions," Fox said last year. "I used to hear: 'Let's smash Fox's kid' a lot, and that wasn't overly fun especially when some of the boys you play would be 110 kilos and strong and fast.”