McKibbin four back in Paris
Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark plays his second shot on the 18th hole on day one of the FedEx Open de France 2024 at Le Golf National on October 10, 2024 in Guyancourt, France. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
Joe Dean, Thorbjørn Olesen and Jesper Svensson share the first round lead at the FedEx Open de France after carding six under par rounds of 65.
The trio made the most of soft conditions at Le Golf National after almost 80 millimetres of rain fell on Wednesday, causing ground staff to work through the night to make the course playable.
Englishman Dean, making his first appearance at this venue, posted the early clubhouse lead after carding four birdies and an eagle, admitting he hadn’t played the back nine before today.
He was then joined at the top of the leaderboard by Olesen, who has fond memories of the Albatross Course as a member of Thomas Bjørn’s victorious 2018 Ryder Cup side. The Dane was one under par after playing the back nine, but then reeled off four consecutive birdies from the first before adding a seventh gain of the day on the par four seventh hole.
Svensson, currently ninth on the Race to Dubai Rankings in partnership with Rolex, made a late charge in the afternoon as he made four gains in a row from the par five 14th to move into a share of first place.
Adrien Saddier is the leading Frenchman after 18 holes, carding a five under par 66 to share fourth with Ukrainian amateur Lev Grinberg, Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard, Yannik Paul of Germany and Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti.
Tom McKibbin was tied for 34th after a two-under 69.
Player Quotes
Joe Dean: “Good, stress-free golf. Tried keeping it in the fairways. The rough is quite juicy out there so fairway golf is pretty key. Just hit it in the fairway to be able to control the ball. It's been great. Hopefully another three days of that and we'll see what happens.
“We sort of sat down at dinner (yesterday) and just looked through the book and most of the tee shots, sort of straightforward. It wasn't too much to just rock up this morning and sort of go from there. The ball is not really bouncing anywhere.”
Thorbjørn Olesen: “On the first, I holed a really long putt for birdie and then the next three I hit them pretty close. Obviously 3 is a par 5 you can reach. With the soft conditions, there's definitely a lot of chances out there. It's still a tricky course and it still asks a few questions out there, but, obviously with the soft conditions, it is a little bit easier.
"All in all it's just a great golf course. I don't think there's one bad golf hole on it. It asks a lot of questions from you. But if you are really on your game, you have a lot of birdie chances, and you saw that, for example, at the Olympics and for the Ryder Cup here, it was really exciting. I think it's just a great golf course, and I really enjoy playing here."
Jesper Svensson: “Good start today, definitely. Two good shots and setup some nice putts. The front today was tough with the rain and the wind. Overall, very happy with the day.
“I'm staying here on site looking out the window last night, it looked like 16 green was completely underwater. So they must have done a tremendous job this morning to get it ready."
