After day one of the FedEx Open de France, Joe Dean, Jesper Svensson, and Thorbjorn Olesen share the lead on 6-under 65.
England’s Dean, who rode three eagles to a T3 finish last month in Spain, continued his eagle binge in France on the par-5 third at Le Golf National.
The Englishman added birdies on Nos. 4, 9, 15 and 17 to post a bogey-free 65, alongside Olesen, who came out of the gate firing, scoring birdies on five of the first seven holes. The Dane added a pair of back-nine birdies on 11 and 14 before a lone bogey on 15 to settle on 6 under.
“On the first, I holed a really long putt for birdie and then the next three I hit them pretty close,” said Olesen when asked about his start. “Obviously three is a par-five you can reach.
“With the soft conditions, there’s definitely a lot of chances out there.
“(It asks) a lot of questions of you but if you are really on your game, you have a lot of birdie chances. I think it’s just a great golf course and I really enjoy playing here.”
Sweden’s Svensson joined early leaders Olesen and Dean with four-straight birdies on Nos. 14-17 before a closing par left him tied for the lead.
“Good start today, definitely. Two good shots and set up some nice putts,” said Svensson. “(On the closing stretch) it was nice, I had some good putts rolling in.”
Amateur Lev Grinberg was among a group of five players one shot off the lead at 5-under 66. The 16-year-old Ukrainian, who is living in dormitories at Le Golf National while he works with the French Golf Federation Academy to develop his game, highlighted his round with two sets of hat tricks (6-8 and 14-16).
France’s Adrien Saddier, Germany’s Yannik Paul, Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti and Dane Nicolai Højgaard were the others in the 66 logjam.
Home hero Saddier appeared set to join the lead trio after a perfect approach on the last left him just three feet away, but the birdie putt stayed up, resulting in a 66.
England’s Justin Rose headlined a nine-player group on 4 under, which included compatriot Dan Bradbury, native son Clement Sordet, China’s Haotong Li, Austria’s Lukas Nemecz, Swede Marcus Kinhult, and South Africans Brandon Stone, Dylan Frittelli and Justin Harding.
2024 FedEx Open de France
Round One: Top 10 Scorers
1. Joe Dean -6
1. Jesper Svensson -6
1. Thorbjorn Olesen -6
4. Lev Grinberg -5
4. Adrien Saddier -5
4. Yannik Paul -5
4. Fabrizio Zanotti -5
4. Nicolai Hojgaard -5
9. Justin Rose -4
9. Dan Bradbury -4
9. Clement Sordet -4
9. Haotong Li -4
9. Lukas Nemecz -4
9. Marcus Kinhult -4
9. Brandon Stone -4
9. Dylan Frittelli -4
9. Justin Harding -4
European Tour Communications post-round content used to compile report.