Richie Ramsay looks to have ended a horror French Open run of outs in posting a score of 66 to be just one shot off the lead after day one in Versailles.
Ramsay grabbed six birdies and three of each half on last year’s victorious European Ryder Cup venue to be just a shot behind the leading duo of Kiwi Ryan Fox and South African George Coetzee.
Next best is Ramsay and sharing third place with local French hero Benjamin Herbert and American Kurt Kitayama who was well in contention last week in Rome before finishing third in the Italian Open.
Scotland’s Richie Ramsay delighted to shoot a 66 on day one of the French Open. (Image – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
Ramsay arrived in Versailles, and now this years four months after the Tour had long hosted the event in the warmer conditions of June, having endured a truly forgettable run the past four years of missing the halfway cut on each occasion.
The Edinburgh golfer made his French Open debut a decade ago but on just three occasions in 10 starts has Ramsay played all four rounds.
Ramsay was fifth in 2011 and then well done in ending 62nd in 2013 while he was also down the board in ending T57th in 2015 but in each of his other seven showings the Scot has been back home for the weekend.
Ramsay said: “It’s obviously a fantastic golf course. A little bit different this year. A bit colder, a bit softer, so the course is playing quite long.
“It’s a joy to play a golf course like this, because it just tests the whole part of your game and mentally, obviously there’s a lot of water out there, so you have to be very committed to your shots.”
Dumfries Liam Johnston bounced back from a first hole bogey in producing a three-under par 68.
Stephen Gallacher was out in the second group of the day in shooting a one-under par 70 while fellow Scot Marc Warren, and who teed off first, signed for a level par 71.
Also at level par is David Law while Scott Jamieson produced a horror round of just one birdie but three bogeys and a ninth hole double-bogey in his score of 75.
