Tvesa Malik at T11 in Ladies Open de France

17 September 2021: It’s a French one-two after day one of the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, with Agathe Laisne and Anais Meyssonnier shooting rounds of 66 (-5) on Thursday to share the lead at Golf Club du Medoc. Tvesa Malik started her day with a birdie and finished with one, for a solid 69. She made four birdies, two on either side, for a card of two-under, just three strokes behind the two leaders.

Tvesa has improved from 529 at one point this year to her current 366 on the Rolex Rankings, a clear indicator that her steady efforts during the coronavirus are beginning to yield positive returns.

She enjoyed back to back top tens in the Ladies Italian Open and Jabra Ladies Open. Her best result on the LET came in the Gant Ladies Open, where she was runner-up. Tvesa finished T11 in the Swiss Ladies Open last week.

On Thursday, Tvesa made good on the par-5s, shooting birdies at the ninth and fourteenth, both measuring to par at five strokes. The first and eighteenth, the other two birdies came at par-4 holes.

The French duo put on an excellent performance in their home country, with Meyssonnier securing vital birdies around the turn to soar up the leaderboard, while Laisne picked up shots on her final three holes to make a late charge for the top of the standings.

After starting on the tenth hole, Meyssonnier finished the back nine in 33 (-2), before rolling in birdies on holes one and two to put her into the ascendency at Golf Club du Medoc.

Even a bogey on the fourth couldn’t stop her momentum, as she picked up two more shots on the way back to the clubhouse to see her card for a first round 66 (-5).

“It was a perfect day for me, I hit my irons really well and managed to hit 16 greens and my putting was good too, so it was a really good day,” Meyssonnier reflected.

“The conditions were perfect as there was only a little bit of wind, I love this golf course as well, I think it’s a good golf course for me – it’s a bit longer and you can hit the driver off the tee, so I love that.”

Sitting alongside her at the top of the standings is compatriot Laisne, with the 22-year-old recovering from a bogey on her first hole of the day to also shoot five-under-par.

Birdies on the 11th and 12th soon vanished any memories of the early dropped shot before another picked up shot on the second saw her join a cluster of players on -2 as the clock ticked past midday.

But by the time she had played her final shot of the day, Laisne had clambered above all her competitors, with birdies rolling in on holes seven, eight and nine to see her finish her day with aplomb.

Laisne, who triumphed in the Grand Prix du Medoc at this very course a year ago – certainly knows the lay of the land in these parts and is looking to impart that knowledge as the week goes on in France.

“I trusted myself to do what I can do, and it was a good day for me. It’s nice to play well here in France, I have people here following me this week so it’s nice to play well in front of them as well,” she said.

“I really like knowing the course before because you can remember what you did right or wrong the last time and then you can try to make it better.

“I’m enjoying what I’m doing so I think it will be great this week, but I’ll just take it day by day and see where it takes me.”

Sitting a shot behind the leading duo are the quartet of Virginia Elena Carta, Karoline Lund, Hannah Burke and Leticia Ras-Anderica, with all three players registering a first round score of 67 (-4) on Thursday.

A strong performance from Lund saw her roll in two birdies and a bogey on her first nine holes, before picking up three shots on her next nine to put herself into contention after the first 18 holes of the competition.

Burke shot out the blocks in Bordeaux to get herself to three under par after six holes, before a bogey and birdie on the 18th and the first respectively, before ending her day with another birdie on the ninth.

Ras-Anderica also finished her day strongly, with an eagle on her final hole of the day propelling her into a tie for third spot in Bordeaux, having expertly recovered from two bogeys in her first four holes to turn her day around.

Carta had a similarly impressive day, with only a bogey on the 17th stopping her from sharing the lead overnight, having put herself in a strong position with an impressive front nine.

Birdies on the fourth and sixth were followed by a dazzling eagle on the ninth, as she made light work of the par-five reaching the green in two, before sinking a 15-foot putt to take herself to -4 after nine holes.

And that’s how she stayed after a birdie and bogey on 14 and 17 respectively, with the University of Cambridge graduate delighted with her day’s work.

“It definitely was a good day; my game was fine – I only missed two greens so it was quite a clean game all around. I was disappointed with the bogey on 17 but very happy about the eagle on the ninth so very happy overall,” she said.

Having turned professional at the start of the year, Carta has hit a rich vein of form with a season’s best finish of T5 at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open last week, and the 24-year-old is keen to add herself to the list of youthful players winning tournaments on the LET this year.

She continued: “My game has been good all summer long and I think it’s now clicking a bit more, so it’s nice to see the good results coming.

“It’s so good to see young people coming onto the LET and winning, it says a lot about the game of golf and how much it is growing. Young people are the superstars of tomorrow, so I think that’s great.”

Mireia Prat set the early benchmark after going out in the opening group of the day, with the Spaniard coming home in 68 shots (-3), which sees her sit with a share of sixth place after round one.

Prat has home favourite Celine Boutier for company, after the Solheim Cup winner rattled off three birdies in her final three holes to finish her day with a flourish, while Liz Young also ended three shots to the good after five birdies and two bogeys in her day.

Magdalena Simmermacher – who finished second to Julia Engstrom here last year – also finds herself in T6, although the Argentinian will be ruing two late bogeys to see her drop down from a share of the lead.

Outside the top ten, five players sit on -2 after the day’s play – including Creekhouse Ladies Open champion Maja Stark – while Race to Costa del Sol contender Steph Kyriacou finds herself in a cluster of ten players who shot 70 (-1) for the day.