Rasmus Hojgaard leads Open de France after course record, Patrick Reed off the pace at Le Golf National

ByAlex Livie

Updated 22/09/2022 at 18:16 GMT

The Open de France is back on the DP World Tour schedule following a two-year hiatus on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. Rasmus Hojgaard was the man to make the biggest move at Le Golf National on Thursday, with the 21-year-old Dane knocking in 10 birdies in a round of 62. While Hojgaard made golf look easy, Patrick Reed struggled on his visit to Paris.

Rasmus Hojgaard gave a demonstration on why he is rated so highly with a blistering start to the Open de France, as LIV Golf’s Patrick Reed struggled at Le Golf National.

Hojgaard and his twin brother Nicolai are viewed as future stars for Europe at the Ryder Cup, possibly as soon as next year, and playing alongside one of Luke Donald’s assistants, Thomas Bjorn, the youngster made a difficult track look simple.

The 21-year-old made 10 birdies to open up a two-stroke lead after the opening round.

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Hojgaard has oodles of talent, with an all-round package of length off the tee, excellent iron play and a tidy short game.

He played front-foot golf all day and was rewarded with a course-record round of 62 to get to nine-under.

One of the highlights was a tap-in birdie on 11, which was within about two inches of a hole in one.

A brilliant putting stroke was not needed on the 11th, but on the fourth it was as he drained a monster from 72 feet for a birdie.

“Today was very good,” Hojgaard said. “To be fair I don’t think I was that good off the tee, but I feel my approach play was very good alongside a very good putter.

“I just tried to go out and play as good as I could. I feel like I’ve been playing decent the last few weeks.

“My goal this week was to limit the mistakes and see what I get out of it.”

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In contrast to Hojgaard, Reed found life extremely tough on the outskirts of Paris.

Reed is on the hunt for world ranking points, as he is on the cusp of falling outside the world’s top 50 on account of LIV events not being sanctioned.

The 2018 Masters champion began well and was three-under after 14 holes, but a horror finish of double bogey and three bogeys saw him drop to two-over.

If he is to secure any ranking points from his trip to France, Reed will have to up his game on Friday.

First Round Leaderboard

1. Rasmus Hojgaard, nine-under

2. Alexander Bjork, seven-under

3. Paul Barjon, six-under

T4. Jamie Donaldson, five-under

T4. James Morrison, five-under

T4. Jamie Donaldson, five-under

T4. Julien Brun, five-under

T4. Martin Couvra, five-under

T4. Tapio Pulkkanen, five-under

T9. Thomas Pieters, four-under

T9. Robert MacIntyre, four-under

The home fans were given something to cheer, as Paul Barjon got himself to six-under.

Barjon is now based in America, but the sight of a Frenchman towards the top of the leaderboard will please spectators who have not cheered a home winner since Thomas Levet in 2011.

Fresh from his win in a play-off to beat Matt Fitzpatrick in the Italian Open last week, Robert MacIntyre made a fine start with a round of 67.

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