CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT AND SCORES

HENRY, LAW AND STEWART IN THE MIX 

AT SAINT OMER WITH 3-under 68s

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS REPORT 

Julien Guerrier finished with a flourish en route to a six under par first round of 65 at the Challenge Tour's Najeti Hotels et Golfs Open, earning the Frenchman the overnight lead as he aims to become the first home winner of the event since 2001.

At a sun-drenched Aa Saint Omer Golf Club in northern France, the Lyon player shone brightly despite opening with a bogey and finished with a birdie and an eagle to climb three clear of a five-strong chasing pack.

Having teed off at the par four tenth, Guerrier got off to a faltering start, three-putting for a five, but picked up his dropped shot straight away with a birdie at the following hole. 

Back to back birdies at the 14^th and 15^th holes took him to the turn in two under and it remained that way until the sixth hole, his 15^th.

The former Amateur Champion then embarked on a stunning run as he picked up shots at the sixth and eighth before a splendid second shot into the par five ninth from the rough left him with a 25 foot eagle putt, and the 28 year old rolled it in with aplomb.

“I'm very happy with how I played today,” said Guerrier, the son of a former professional footballer. “The start of my season has not been good apart from a third place in Madeira. I’ve missed a few cuts and I don’t usually miss many cuts.

“It’s good for me to be up there but it’s only the first round and the road is long. I finished well with the birdie and eagle at the last two but I had missed a few short putts.

“I think everybody is missing short putts out there but it makes a difference when you hole a couple of big ones and I did that.

“We have been really lucky with the weather this year because normally it rains a lot. I think it’s the best week we’ve had here in a long time. The course is in great condition.

“I didn’t really expect this good round because the confidence hasn’t been there recently. I played pretty solid last week in Spain but I had a lot of putts so it’s difficult to make a good score with that.
“Every round I was having three-putt bogeys and double-bogeys and when that happens, it’s difficult to stay focussed. I'm very happy with what I’ve done today and we’ll see what happens for the rest of the week.”
The course, located less than 30 minutes from the ferry port of Calais and just outside the town of Saint Omer, has been widely praised this week as being in the best condition it has ever been in and Guerrier admitted that the stunning weather makes the challenging lay-out a lot easier to enjoy.
“You need to be patient out there,” he said. “Just aim for the middle of the greens because you will have some difficult shots in. It depends on the weather. If the wind is blowing it’s a completely different course. Today the wind blew a little bit but it’s perfect weather for here.”
A trio of Scots and a pair of Englishmen lay three shots off the pace heading into Round Two as Scott Henry, David Law and Duncan Stewart of Scotland all signed for three under par rounds of 68 to share second place, alongside Australian-born Englishman Daniel Gaunt and compatriot Chris Hanson.

FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD 

Par 71

65 J Guerrier  (Fra) 
68 D Law (Sco), D Gaunt (Eng) , S Henry  (Sco) , D Stewart (Sco) , C Hanson (Eng) 
69 T Nørret (Den) , A Rota (Ita) , S Hutsby  (Eng) , R Coles (Eng) , J Rask (Swe) , T Lee (USA) , P Widegren  (Swe) , A Marshall (Eng) , J Lagergren (Swe)
70 P Edberg (Swe) , W Besseling  (Ned) , T Pilkadaris (Aus) , O Stark (Swe) , P Maddy (Eng) , M Southgate  (Eng) , C Paisley  (Eng) , A Tadini (Ita)
71 M Delpodio  (Ita) , L Kennedy  (Eng) , A Johnston (Eng) , T Grava  (Fra) , S Tiley (Eng) , N Joakimides (Fra) , P Figueiredo  (Por) , J Fahrbring (Swe) , T Fournier  (Fra) , B Chapellan (Fra) , L Jensen (Den), B Hebert  (Fra), J Rutherford (Eng) , A Domingo (Esp) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , M Rocchi  (Fra) , T Remkes (Ned) , R McGowan  (Eng) , N Johansson (Swe) , E Espana (Fra) , J Winther (Den) , P Oriol (Esp)
72 L Gagli  (Ita) , J Garcia Del Moral (Esp) , T Sluiter  (Ned) , M Tullo (Chi) , M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) , F Serghini  (Mar) , M Hooper  (Eng) , D Vancsik (Arg), J Elson  (Eng), M Haastrup  (Den) , S Arnold  (Aus) , P Archer (Eng) , T Van Der Walt (RSA) , A Bihan (Fra) , J Barnes (Eng) , B Henson (USA) , A Hortal  (Esp) , D Coupland (Eng) , J Sjöholm (Swe) , D Ulrich (Sui) , F Fritsch  (Ger) , J Legarrea (Esp) , J Lucquin (Fra) , B Dredge (Wal) , S Little (Eng) , A Björk (Swe) , T Linard (Fra) , E Johansen  (Nor) , O Farr (Wal)
73 E Dubois (Fra) , R Davies (Wal) , J Palmer (Eng) , C Bouniol (Fra) , P Dwyer (Eng) , N Lemke (Swe), K Le Sager  (Fra), H Joannes  (Bel) , G Shaw (Nir) , R McEvoy  (Eng) , F Bergamaschi (Ita) , G Murray  (Sco) , L Weber (Fra) , W Booth  (Sco) , C Rameaux (Fra) , K Benz (Sui) , J Doherty  (Sco) , O Wilson (Eng) , D Suazo  (Esp) , C Brazillier  (Fra) , C Aguilar  (Esp) , C Shinkwin (Eng) , R McGee (Irl) 
74 D Perrier (Fra) , S Brown (Eng) , B Åkesson (Swe) , S Wakefield (Eng) , M Ford (Eng) , B An (SKor) , C Arendell (USA) , B Evans  (Eng) , C Lloyd (Eng) , J Wilson (Aus) , J Verselin (Fra) , B Stone (RSA) , Z Scotland  (Eng) , C Monasterio (Arg) , A Korinek (Cze) , A Bernadet  (Fra) , O Lieser (Cze) , M Jonzon (Swe) , A Snobeck  (Fra) , F Adarraga (Esp) , J Stalter (Fra)
75 C Russo (Fra) , P McKechnie (Sco) , N Quintarelli (Ita) , C Mivis  (Bel) , B Petit (Fra) , E Larrañaga (Esp) , D Bobrowski (Fra) , J Gonnet  (Fra) , D Gavins (Eng) , J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 76 O Floren  (Swe), R Kind (Ned), A Abbas (Fra) , R Russell (Sco) , N Meitinger  (Ger) , J Kennegard  (Swe) , J Nodér (Sui) , N Singer (am) (Fra) ,
77 M Lafeber (Ned) , J Huldahl (Den) , B Virto  (Esp) , G Cambis  (Fra) , C Garrido (Esp) , J Grillon  (Fra)
78 F Cupillard (Fra) , A Kaleka  (Fra) , F Delamontagne  (Fra) , C Macaulay  (Sco) , L Goddard  (Eng) , C Batut (Fra) , S Casabona-Navarro (Esp) , J Lopez Lazaro (Fra) 
79 G Watremez (Bel) , F Abadie (Fra) , M Rodriguez Calassou (am) (Fra)
81 J Roos (RSA)
82 A Marjan  (Mar) 
83 P Peracino (Fra)