Rasmus Højgaard tied the course record with a 9-under 62 on Thursday, marred only by a bogey at the par-3 second hole, to take the opening lead in the Cazoo Open de France.
“Today was very good,” said the Dane. “To be fair, I don’t feel like I was that good off the tee but my approach play was very good today, alongside a very good putter.
“I holed a few long putts out there but you have to do that to shoot nine under.
“It’s quite cool to have a course where you need to think your way round a bit. That’s what this course gives you. It tests you in all parts of your game.”
Sweden’s Alexander Björk remained bogey-free and closed with a 64 to take second place.
“It felt really good. I’ve not had too many of these rounds this season so far so it was a lot of fun to have the feeling again that you can actually hit the ball where you want and hole a few putts as well.
“I was in very good control of my feelings today so it was nice.”
France’s Paul Barjon lies in solo third place at 6-under followed by compatriots Julien Brun and amateur Martin Couvra in a share of fourth place at 5-under alongside England’s James Morrison, Wales’ Jamie Donaldson and Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen.
