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Indian golfer Saptak Talwar continued his encouraging run on the Tour by opening with a two-under 70 at the Blot Play9, carrying the confidence from his strong performance in England into this week's event in France.
Talwar's steady start at Golf Bluegreen de Pleneuf Val Andre left him tied for 25th, five shots behind England's John Gough, who produced a flawless seven-under 63 to take the first-round lead, a release said. Fresh from a confidence-boosting finish in England, Talwar once again showed his ability to make birdies in bunches. He picked up six birdies during his round, beginning with one on the third hole before adding another on the 10th. He gathered further momentum late in the day with birdies on the 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes. However, a costly double bogey on the sixth and bogeys on the eighth and 15th prevented the Indian from climbing much higher on the leaderboard. Even so, his two-under total keeps him well within striking distance heading into the second round on a course where low scores have been readily available. Leading the field is Gough, whose bogey-free seven-under 63 was built on seven birdies in a polished display. The Englishman took full advantage of the scoring opportunities and did not card a single score higher than par throughout the day. "It's not often that four is your highest score and I've been struggling on the par fives recently, so having two of them and taking advantage of them definitely helped," Gough said after his round. Just one stroke behind the leader is a group of four players at six-under comprising Spain's Joseba Torres and Pablo Ereno, Dutch golfer Wouter De Vries and France's Tom Gueant. Torres and Gueant also completed bogey-free rounds, while De Vries dropped only one shot during an otherwise excellent day. Ereno produced perhaps the most eventful card of the opening round, making an incredible 10 birdies but offsetting them with two double bogeys to settle for a 66. (ANI)
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