Clubhouse leader Jeff Winther had plenty to smile about after a superb second round at Le Golf National for the French Open 2026. But one reporter’s question suddenly made him wary. The Dane has built a strong connection with the French venue and has plenty of faith in one particular part of his game. Yet with his form gathering momentum at the $3.75 million FedEx Open de France, he was not taking any chances with words that could tempt fate.
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“Well, I’ve always considered my putting one of my strengths. And you’d better not be jinxing me now. Tomorrow I will come after you if I’m putting s***. So, just so you know. No, I love these greens. Even all the new greens are still great to putt on. I loved the greens before, and now it seems like they’re getting even better now,” Winther responded to a reporter who praised his greens reading and putting skills.
It was all in good humor, as the DP World Tour pro clarified.
Jeff Winther played exceptionally well today to complement his opening round and take the lead midway through the event. He opened with a five-under 66. This featured a bogey on the par-three eighth and six birdies. In the second round, he improved to a seven-under 64. In the second round, he hit seven birdies on holes 2, 6, 10, 13, 14, 16, and 17. Thanks to this bogeyless round, he now stands at a cumulative score of 12-under 130, leading by two strokes over current runner-ups Ryan Gerard, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom Vaillant, and Michael Kim.
As he noted, his putting has been excellent across both days and throughout the season. With a score of 29.3, he ranks fifth on the DP World Tour for putting average in 2026. Similarly, his putts per GIR score is 1.8, and he ranks 22nd in that stat. Jeff Winther is following suit at the French Open.
Yesterday, he was 20th on the field in putts per GIR and 21st in putts average. Today’s numbers are not out yet because many professionals in the field have yet to complete their rounds. And this is because of a slight delay of around 40 minutes this morning due to fog. According to Winther, the delay probably benefited him, and most likely others, too.
“It was quite cold in the morning until we got another 40 minutes. It got heated up so it wasn’t as cold when we started, so that was great,” he said during his post-round conference.
While the delay helped today, Jeff Winther already had plenty of good memories from this tournament. It is, therefore, one of his favorite stops on the DP World Tour. He said that he loves coming to play the event and the greens at Le Golf National are great.
The two-time DP World Tour winner finished tied for 49th last time he was here in 2025. Before that, he finished tied for second in 2024 and 2023.
If the Danish professional continues this momentum over the weekend, he could register his third win on the DP World Tour and turn the 2026 campaign into a breakthrough season after his Danish Golf Championship win last month.
Jeff Winther wins on home soil
About eight golfers were in close contention on a chaotic Sunday at the Danish Golf Championship. But it was the 38-year-old hometown hero who won the event.
Winther carded rounds of 71-67-68-67 to finish 15-under at 273. He won by three strokes over five co-runners-up, including Rasmus Hojgaard. As he noted today, his putting was strong and on display during the weekend in Denmark. On Saturday, he ranked third in putts per GIR and 11th in putts average. On the final day, he ranked 11th and 9th in putts per GIR and putts average, respectively.
The fun fact is that he was a greenkeeper at Great Northern 15 years ago. When asked if he ever thought his name would be there on the trophy during his time as a greenkeeper, he said no.
“No! I was never going to be a golfer so this is just insane. I don’t know what to say, I’m in shock!” he responded.
Playing in his national open, he had a lot of support. In fact, he went on to say that it was the crowd that carried him the entire week.
While he does not have that local crowd support at Le Golf National, he has two runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2024. He needs to rely on that and his strong putting skills to add another event to his resume.