Alexander Knappe shares a one-stroke lead with Martin Vorster and Hamish Brown heading into round two of the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.
The trio all carded opening rounds of 66 to reach six under par and move one clear of Germany’s Jan Schneider as a firm, blustery Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil showed its teeth on day one.
German Knappe signed for one of just four bogey-free rounds on Thursday, and he was delighted to ascend to the top of the leaderboard at a course he has fond memories of.
“I found it really nice, the course improves every year,” he said. “I’ve been coming here for a few years, the last time was in 2022. They’ve made a few changes and it’s really enjoyable to play here.
“It was just good shots into the green and then good putts today, I think I holed one long putt, from eight metres, but other than that I hit really close shots and then converted them.
“I feel like my game is just getting closer to how good I can play. I had an off week last week so worked on my game a bit, but also took it easy, only worked for three, four hours a day and had some rest. It’s starting to click, I think everything comes together now, but I still have to work on it.”
Denmark’s Brown, eighth in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, was first to the six under mark on day one, making four consecutive birdies on his opening nine, before closing with an eagle three.
“It was nice to come back here,” he said. “I was here two years ago and I really enjoyed the golf course and I did again this morning. I don’t know what it is I just really like it and looking forward to the next couple days.
“This course is a little bit different to what we usually see on this tour, I think you have to think a little bit more. You can’t just bomb it, or you need to hit it on a string if you do so. I don’t take that perspective on this course, I try to plot my way around. It’s a good challenge.
“I need to keep doing what I’m doing. I don’t think about the Road to Mallorca too much, I just keep plugging away, tick my boxes and do what I need to do and we’ll see where we end up on Sunday each week. Someone has to win it so at some point it’s probably going to happen if I keep doing what I’m doing, but time will tell.”
South Africa’s Vorster took full advantage of the four par fives on his way to a 66, playing them in five under par, as he looks to secure more starts this season on the Road to Mallorca.
“I obviously played very well but the conditions were quite tricky,” he said. “The wind was coming and going, and this is a really good golf course, you have to hit good shots off the tee, but yes just happy to get a good start to the week.
“Hole eight was really good, hit a good drive, then a five iron that ran up the green to about ten feet then made the putt for eagle, which was nice. Obviously, par fives, they are all reachable in two so you definitely want to take advantage of them.
“I only have four more guaranteed starts including this week through the Sunshine Tour, so my goal for this season is to get a full HotelPlanner Tour card for next year. Hopefully we can have a good few weeks to give me some starts for the rest of the season, but I think if we can get into China and secure a card that would be great.
“Everybody’s teeing it up to win but I’m just going to stick to my process, stick to my routines, and we’ll add up the score and see where we are at.”
In a tie for fifth behind the leaders are Denmark’s Martin Simonsen, France’s Clement Sordet, South Africa’s MJ Viljoen, Peru’s Julian Perico, and Chase Hanna of the USA.
Round two begins at 7.30am local time on Friday, with Brown teeing off at 1.15pm, Vorster at 1.35pm, and Knappe at 1.55pm.
