Germany’s Marcel Siem birdied three holes in a row to take an early lead at the Alstom Open de France.
The German played the front nine at Le Golf National in a five under par 31 to establish an early one shot lead over England’s Paul Broadhurst and New Zealander Danny Lee.
Jean Van de Velde, playing just his second European Tour event of the year, covered the back nine in a two under par 33 with birdies at the long 14th and 399 yard next.
It is now 11 years since Van de Velde triple-bogeyed the final hole of The Open Championship at Carnoustie and lost in a play-off to Paul Lawrie.
But he has also had his drama on this course over the years, most notably in 2005 when he lost a play-off to compatriot Jean-Francois Remesy after going in the water on the final hole again.
Lee, the European Tour's youngest-ever winner, and former winner Paul Broadhurst, were one ahead of Broadhurst’s compatriot Oliver Wilson, New Zeeland’s Mark Brown, Indian Shiv Kapur, Chilean Felipe Aguilar, Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey and Spaniard Alejandro Cañizares.
