Golf: Europe's top players honour Paris victims

Shanghai - Europe's top golfers wore black ribbons during Saturday's third round of the BMW Masters in Shanghai to commemorate victims of the Paris attacks that left more than 120 people dead.

Players waking up at around 6:00am local time (2200 GMT) in China were stunned to hear the still breaking news of the attacks.

Former US Open champion and world number six Justin Rose, world number seven Henrik Stenson and world number 11 Sergio Garcia were among players who pinned black ribbons to their clothing before teeing off.

The seven French players in the 78-man field agreed before play that they would wear black as a mark of respect if they had such clothing with them.

Ryder Cup star Victor Dubuisson, who was the highest-placed Frenchman going into the third round, wore a black shirt, black sweater and a black visor.

"I hadn't watched TV this morning so I didn't know about it until I got to the course," Dubuisson told AFP after his third round 68 left him on 10-under par and in a share of 13th place, five shots behind leader Thongchai Jaidee.

"It's very sad for all the families of the victims." Compatriot Gregory Bourdy was in sombre mood wearing all black and a black ribbon, while Alexander Levy had a black ribbon pinned to his white cap.

"I was very sad and disappointed when I woke up today because I watched what happened in France," Levy said.

He nevertheless somehow managed to put the carnage in Paris to the back of his mind and shot his lowest score of the season, a nine-under par 63 to move to four-under par for the event after a tough two opening rounds.

"So I said to myself, 'OK this is bad but just try to enjoy playing despite the trouble in France'," Levy added.

"It is again a very bad story for French people. I was little bit upset." Thailand's Jaidee leads the $7 million flagship European Tour event at Lake Malaren by one shot going into Sunday's final round.

The tournament has 15 of the top 16 ranked players in Europe taking part and is the final stop before the season-ending DP Tour Championship in Dubai.