Who is Matthew Southgate? All you need to know about the English golfer

The Open de France got off to a competitive start and Matthew Southgate was one of the players who came out firing. The Englishman is one of four players chasing the leader by one stroke.

Southgate was born in 1988 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The highlight of his amateur career was winning the 2010 St Andrews Links Trophy. He began his professional career the same year.

During his career in professional golf, Matthew Southgate has had to fight hard to make a place for himself. He started out on the Challenge Tour, playing the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Although he did not play full seasons there after that, he continued to play several tournaments a year until 2018.

Southgate alternated his presence between the Challenge Tour and the DP World Tour for several years. In 2015, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which forced him to withdraw from competition for several months.

After treatment, Matthew Southgate rejoined the Challenge Tour Qualifying School at the end of the season. Despite his time away, he finished sixth and earned his DP World Tour card for the upcoming season.

Since 2016, Matthew Southgate has stabilized as a DP World Tour player. His results have also gradually improved, although he is still looking for his first win on the European circuit.

Globally, Southgate played 63 events on the Challenge Tour, with one runner-up finish and six top-10s as his best results. He made the cut in 32 of those events.

On the DP World Tour, Southgate has played in 244 events and made 142 cuts. His best results include three runner-up finishes and 16 top 10s. He has earned more than €5 million during his professional career.

As for Majors, Southgate has played in six editions of The Open Championship and two U.S. Opens. His best result at the British Open was a T6 in 2017. He has been cut both times at the U.S. Open.

Matthew Southgate at the Open de France

The French Open got off to a flying start for Matthew Southgate as he had a front nine of five birdies, three in a row. He added two more on the back nine to take his tally to eight. His only bogey came on the 18th hole and it was the only mistake on a near perfect day.

His final score of 6-under 71 left him in a three-way tie for second place. The three are just one stroke behind tournament leader Tom Kim on -7.

Southgate will tee off this Friday at 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time as part of group number 20. He will tee off from hole 10, accompanied by Germany's Marcel Schneider and France's Alexander Levy.