JAMES BYRNE GETS PRO CAREER OFF TO A FLIER IN FRANCE

By SCOTT CROCKETT
European Tour Chief Press Officer
Walker Cup hero James Byrne, pictured, got his professional golfing life off to an excellent start when he moved into a share of second place after the opening round of the Golf Open Grand Toulouse on the European Challenge Tour.
The 22 year old Scot – who returned two points out of three at Royal Aberdeen two weeks ago as Great Britain and Ireland beat the United States 14-12 – was as hot as the sunshine at Golf de Toulouse-Seilh in south west France as he posted a six under par 65, to lie three shots behind leader Christophe Brazillier of France who posted a new course record 62.
Indeed, had Byrne not dropped a shot at the last after finding water from the tee he would have held second place outright, but a brave 15 footer for bogey four enabled him to share that position with Denmark’s Lasse Jensen, England’s Ben Parker, Norway’s Espen Kofstad and Robin Wingardh of Sweden.
“I was a little disappointing to drop a shot at the last but overall I’m pretty pleased with the day,” said Byrne, who signed his professional forms last week.
“I got off to the best possible start with five birdies in my first eight holes and I actually had a putt from about six feet on the ninth green to be out in 29. Maybe because I was thinking about that number was the reason it didn’t go in but, as I said, I can’t complain.”
Clearly the runner up in the 2010 Amateur Championship is well equipped to deal with the challenges inside the ropes, but the Aberdonian admitted it is coping with life as a professional outside tournament play that will take the biggest adjustment.
“When you travelled with the Scotland squad or the GB and I squad, everything was taken care of for you and you knew when you were practicing and what was expected of you at most times during the day,” he said.
“However, being a professional, you have a lot of spare time in addition to all the travelling and hotels and it is that aspect I will have to try and manage properly. However this week is good experience for me and I’ll be looking to use that going forward to the Tour School later this year.”
Pacesetter Brazillier gave his quest to climb the Challenge Tour rankings the perfect start in his home country with a superb course record nine under par 62. The 31 year old was in blistering form at Golf de Toulouse-Seilh, his flawless card featuring nine birdies and nine par figures to help him open a three shot gap.
Currently 58th on the rankings in this, the fifth last counting event of the 2011 season, Brazillier admitted he has work to do to climb into the top 20 who will gain a card for The 2012 European Tour at the end of the season.
“I have had a bit of so-so season up until now,” he said. “I was third in the Telenet Trophy in Belgium in May but apart from that all my tournaments have featured some good stuff and some not so good stuff which explains where I am.
“I would love to make the top 20 at the end of the season but I have a bit of a gap to make up in terms of money. Obviously a win here would help with that and although there is a long way to go, I couldn’t have asked for a better start.”
Beginning at the tenth hole, the Frenchman sped from the blocks with four birdies in a row from the 11th before another two at the 17th and 18th saw him ‘out’ in 30. Further birdies followed at the first and fifth holes before a pitch to two metres at the ninth hole gave him the birdie which set the new record mark.
Joining in second was Englishman Ben Parker who, like the Scot, was experiencing a Challenge Tour event for the first time. The 24 year old – the son of German-based teaching professional Tim Parker and a regular on the EPD Tour – is a sponsor’s invite and carded seven birdies in total in his 65.
Alongside them was Swede Wingardh, Norwegian Kofstad who had nine birdies in a remarkable 65, and Denmark’s Jensen, who finished his round in style with four birdies in the final six holes, to join the leading pack.
The 27 year old Dane – currently 47th on the Challenge Tour Rankings and looking for a good week to push towards the top 20 who will win cards for The 2012 European Tour at the end of the season – admitted he has been inspired by the recent performances of his fellow countryman on The European Tour, Thomas Bjorn, who won back to back recently in Scotland and Switzerland.
“He has always been a big idol of mine and I have looked up to him ever since he won his first tournament on The European Tour at Loch Lomond in 1996 as that was the year I first started playing golf,” he said.
“He has also had his ups and down in his career but I have always admired the way he has battled back and his form of late has shown just that. He continues to raise the profile of the game in Denmark and anything that helps golf in our country is a good thing.”

SCOREBOARD
Par 71
62 C Brazillier (Fra) 
65 R Wingardh (Swe) , L Jensen (Den) , B Parker (Eng) , J Byrne (Sco) , E Kofstad (Nor)
66 S Little (Eng) , S Hutsby (Eng) , S Thornton (Irl) , D Perrier (Fra)
67 J Guillet (Fra) , N Lombardi (Ita) , N Meitinger (Ger) , A Marshall (Eng) , M Baldwin (Eng) , J Quesne (Fra)
68 E Chaudouet (Fra) , V Riu (Fra) , M Southgate (Eng) , M Erlandsson (Swe) , C Lee (Sco) , J Lima (Por) , F Delamontagne (Fra) , O Whiteley (Eng) , J Lagergren (Swe)
69 F Calmels (Fra) , C Gane (Eng) , M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) , M Evans (Eng) , G Lockerbie (Eng) , N Kearney (Irl) , A Tadini (Ita) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , C Doak (Sco) , O David (Fra) , P Archer (Eng) , F Praegant (Aut) , M Bothma (RSA) , A Domingo (Esp) , A Bossert (Sui) , E Pepperell (Eng) , C Paisley (Eng) , A Hansen (Den) , G Houston (Wal) , C Russo (Fra) , J Remesy (Fra) 
70 A Otaegui (Esp) , A Tampion (Aus) , B Etchart (Esp) , J Van Der Vaart (Ned) , J Bragulat (Esp) , J Doherty (Sco) , J Robinson (Eng) , D Brooks (Eng) , P Del Grosso (Arg) , J Hepworth (Eng) , R Hjelm (Den) , B Grace (RSA) , J Guerrier (Fra) , L Canter (Eng) , A Pavan (Ita) , E Dubois (Fra) , F Valera (Esp) , A Schwartz (am) (Fra)
71 C Moriarty (Irl) , A Perrino (Ita) , B Evans (Eng) , I Giner (Esp) , N Mourlon (Fra) , D Nouailhac (Fra) , P Valmary (Fra) , A Snobeck (Fra) , T Ferreira (RSA) , F Marty (Fra) , M Kieffer (Ger) , K Borsheim (Nor) , J McLeary (Sco) , O Rozner (am) (Fra)
72 A Levy (Fra) , B Chapellan (Fra) , B Barham (Eng) , H Norlander (Swe) , A Bihan (Fra) , M Cryer (Eng) , A Bernadet (Fra) , B Teilleria (Fra) , A Grenier (Fra) , R Santos (Por) , J Garcia (Esp) , D Vancsik (Arg) , D Bobrowski (Fra) , T Raillard (Fra) , M Hill (Fra) , C Judlin (Fra) , J Heath (Eng) , S Garcia (Esp)
73 M Juan (Esp) , J Billot (Fra) , A Högberg (Swe) , M Delpodio (Ita) , F Colombo (Ita) , A Kaunas (Ltu) , T Fournier (Fra) , P Gustafsson (Swe)
74 A Butterfield (Eng) , S Bebb (Wal) , M Van Hauwe (Fra) , J Grillon (Fra) , J Palmer (Eng) , J Belot-Lacroix (Fra) , R Thuillier (Fra) , J Campillo (Esp) , G Dear (Sco) , C Ford (Eng) , J Estevez (Arg)
75 K Le Sager (Fra) , C Garrido (Esp) , B Åkesson (Swe) ,
76 J Garcia Fernandez (Esp) , J Lopez Lazaro (Fra) , G Rosier (Fra) , R Steiner (Aut) , A Pailler (Fra)
77 P Relecom (Bel) , L Seinger (Fra)
78 P Dwyer (Eng)
79 A Ahokas (Fin) , C Airot (Fra)
80 A Noudeu (Fra) , A Mandonnet (Fra)
83 V Almstrom (Swe)