Craig Ross will take a one-stroke lead into the second day of the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge after he posted a seven under par opening round of 65 at Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil.
The Scotsman carded eight birdies and one bogey to move one-shot clear of Englishman Matthew Baldwin and France’s Jérôme Lando Casanova, who share second place on six under par.
The 29-year-old was left to rue a missed par putt on the last which would have extended his advantage to two, but is nonetheless happy with his opening effort.
“I played really solid today,” he said. “I got off to a steady start and then got the luck I needed on the sixth hole where I pulled my drive, but it came back off a tree and I managed to make par.
“I went on a nice run after that and I was a bit unfortunate to bogey the last but overall I’m pretty happy with seven under on the first day.”
Ross believes Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil is a layout well-suited to him due to the strength of his long game, however he also had to rely on his delicate touch around the greens.
“You have to drive the ball well round here,” he said. “I’m usually a good driver of the ball so this course definitely suits my eye, and I was very solid from tee to green. My short game was good today too and I actually chipped in twice from around the greens.
“I enjoy playing in France because it’s usually pretty windy and that suits my game due to my low ball flight.”
England’s Marco Penge and Frenchmen Benjamin Kedochim, Grégory Bourdy and Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon share fourth place on five under par, while seven players share eighth on four under, including Belgium’s Kristof Ulenaers and Spaniard Alejandro Del Rey.
The second round of the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge will begin at 8:00am local time, with Ross teeing it up alongside Kedochim and South African Jacques Blaauw at 8:10am.
