England’s Ross Fisher and Dane Anders Hansen were the early leaders as the Alstom Open de France began at Le Golf National near Paris.
On the course which will host the 2018 Ryder Cup, Fisher - who represented Europe at Celtic Manor in 2010 - had three birdies in his first six holes from the tenth.
The 42 year old Hansen matched that run to make it a tie at the top on three under, with Australian Andrew Dodt, Swede Johan Edfors, Ireland’s Damien McGrane and English pair Robert Coles and David Lynn all on two under.
Former Ryder Cup Captain José María Olazábal and one of his stars from The Miracle of Medinah, Luke Donald, were one under.
Donald’s teammate Ian Poulter, however, had a difficult start after finding water on the 16th - part of the famous closing stretch - and running up a double bogey five.
Donald soon became another victim of the daunting closing stretch, running up a triple bogey seven on the 18th after finding a fairway bunker off the tee and then dumping his third shot into the water surrounding the green.
Defending champion Marcel Siem had fared even worse, taking eight there and eight on the 13th in an outward half of 44.
