Ireland’s Rebecca Coakley continued her fine season on the Ladies European Tour after she opened with a four-under-par 68 at the French Open to trail leader Linda Wessberg by two shots at Paris International Golf Club.
A birdie at the 11th, her second, was undone by a double-bogey six at the 12th but they would be the last shots she dropped, making five more birdies to leave her in a five-way tie for fifth spot.
Swede Wessberg, who won the event in 2007, had seven birdies and a solitary bogey lead by a stroke from a trio consisting of Italian Diana Luna, Caroline Masson of Germany and South Africa’s Stacy Lee Bregman.
After excelling on a rain-softened course, Wessberg said: “It’s a great golf course. It’s playing pretty tough, I think, especially now that it’s soggy in the ground. I think we’ve been very lucky today with the weather.
“We got some rain but it was funny because the sky was still blue but it was a little haze and it was raining for about a hole and a half. It’s playing pretty long and you don’t get anything extra out of drivers but you have to place your shots and play with your head a little bit. I love that.
“I played pretty solid; hit a lot of fairways and 15 greens. I played great last week as well but I couldn’t hole one putt so finally I got a few putts to drop, which was nice.”
Martina Gillen and Tara Delaney both carded one-under-par 71s, while Hazel Kavanagh was on four over after a 76.