Julien Guerrier carded a brilliant round of 66 to open up a one-shot lead after a wild and windy opening day at the KLM Open.
The Frenchman battled wind and rain in the morning at The International and was six under when play was stopped for the first time due to storms in the area.
Related: Connor Syme returns to defend KLM Open title
Upon the resumption he made a brilliant up-and-down to save par on his final hole and set the target, a target that would not come near to being caught as the wind got even stronger for the afternoon starters.
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It was wind that then brought an early conclusion to the day’s play, with all the early starters in the clubhouse and all the afternoon’s players having completed between two and ten holes.
England’s Joe Dean was a shot behind Guerrier, with Swede Sebastian Söderberg than at four under. Scot Calum Hill was then three back alongside American Jordan Gumberg and Englishman Paul Waring, with the large group at two under containing the best of the afternoon starters, who had battled treacherous conditions.
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Round one will resume tomorrow at 7:30am, with all round two tee times delayed by three hours and 15 minutes.
Player quotes
Julien Guerrier: “I played obviously really good. The fairway was really important because from the rough you cannot control the ball and the greens are very sloppy here, so it is tough from the beginning. I think in these conditions sometimes you need to be lucky.
“The toughest thing is to believe when you have 120 metres, for me I would have a seven iron, and normally I am 165, so 45 metres difference is huge and you try to believe and obviously you cannot control everything.
“It was frustrating but with my position it was good at the same time, you know the last hole is really tough, so I tried to avoid a big mistake and I made a really good up and down which was nice.
Joe Dean: “It was a pretty solid day to be honest. Got off to a good start and just tried to maintain that, a couple bits in the middle that were a little ropey, so I will probably hit a few balls on the range to work on some times, but all in all a really good day.
“It was pretty windy out there this morning, at least of 20mph, and obviously a few rain showers to deal with, so we will see, the wind is up there.
“I’ve been working on the same things I have been working on for the last six to eight months, the problem with this game is that you don’t know when you are going to get the rewards of it. It is tough and I have questioned things a couple times, but I have a good team around me and hopefully it will be the start of some good form.”
