Report by Anand Datla
July 02, 2015: On a weather marred first day on the outskirts of Paris, Anirban Lahiri shot a 69 to plant himself inside the top ten of the Alstom Open de France, just two off the leader. In fact the top ranked Indian could have been firmly in the lead, had he not suffered a dip on the back nine – he was five under through the front nine, which was one better than the field. Jeev Milkha Singh started well, but slipped as the round progressed to finish at five over 76. Shiv Kapur was among 42 golfers that could not finish the first round on Thursday.
Local golfer Victor Dubuisson, Jaco Van Zyl and Bernd Weisberger were all at three under, the clubhouse leaders. There were two other golfers also in the same spot, with another hole left to complete in the first round. Maximillian Kieffer was one better through 14 holes. (Read more in Golf)
Lahiri got off to a spectacular start at the event – after making birdies at the first and fifth holes, he further cushioned his card with another birdie at the 8th. A brilliant eagle at the par-5 ninth sprung him to the top of the heap as he surged to five under.
But after taking just 31 shots for his first nine holes, Lahiri suffered his first setback of the day when he took a bogey at the 10th hole. His card was scarred by a double bogey six at the 15th hole, dropping him back to two under.
Singh was a steady hand through the front nine, a birdie at the par-3 second and eight pars keeping him on the right side of the field. But after making ten consecutive pars, he sank a bogey five at the 13th to drop back to even par.
Disaster befell the veteran golfer at the par-4 17th hole. He suffered a miserable quadruple bogey at the penultimate hole to make a desperate slide down the order. Another bogey to finish his work for the day left him in T113 and in need of some magic on Friday to remain relevant for the weekend.
Shiv Kapur was also staring at the danger of having to salvage himself in the second round. On a patchy day, Kapur took 37 shots for the first nine holes – including two bogeys and a birdie that came at the third hole.
After making the turn, Kapur made three bogeys in the next six holes and despite a birdie at the 14th he is lying T83 with two holes to play to complete his first round. Amidst stormy weather, there were three disruptions on the first day of the tournament.
Over two and a half hours of play was lost in the morning session, before play was finally suspended just before 0900pm local time. This is the 99th edition of the Open de France, often considered the oldest national open in Continental Europe.
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