Italy’s Alessia Nobilio fired a bogey-free round of 65 (-6) to lead by one stroke at the end of the first day of action of the 2025 Lacoste Ladies Open de France.
The LET rookie got off to a hot start at Golf Barrière in Deauville with birdies on the second, fourth and fifth holes.
Nobilio added further birdies on the ninth, 10th and 13th to sit at the top of the leaderboard on six-under-par.
“I’m very happy about it, I played very solidly,” said the Italian. “I think I hit 17 greens and holed a few long putts, which helped. The key was staying patient out there because it wasn’t easy with the wind in the afternoon.
“It’s very tough to adapt to different courses throughout the year and I think I did a good job during the practice rounds of figuring out where the good spots were and that was helpful today.
“I’m loving my rookie season; we’re travelling all over the world. I made so many friendships and it’s nice to visit new places. It’s been great so far.
“I think I started off very well, I made three birdies in the first six holes with a lot of wind, so that gave me a lot of confidence going into the back nine as well. I was steady all day. I will go and rest now, I really enjoyed it.”
Germany’s Helen Briem is in solo second place on five-under-par after she produced a round of 66 (-5) in France.
The LET winner began her day with a birdie at the 10th before rolling in another birdie on 18 to make the turn in two-under.
Briem made further birdies on holes two and four but dropped a shot on seven; however, she finished in style with back-to-back birdies on eight and nine.
“It was actually pretty good, I hit many fairways and many greens and only made one bogey,” said Briem. “That’s a huge step forward compared to the last few tournaments, so I’m really happy.
“Two of my birdies were two-putts on the par-5s, one was an up-and-down from the bunker, which was a short putt, and then the other birdies were inside three metres. There’s still a lot of room for improvement but I’m really happy with every part of my game today.
“I played with Anna [Nordqvist] at the AIG Women’s Open and being in the same field as the Kordas at Evian, and now in the group with Celine [Boutier] here. It’s a great experience for me to see that development I’ve had from playing my first PING Junior Solheim Cup to the second one and now playing out here in the same tournaments and in the same groups is great.”
Five players end day one in a share of third place with Japan’s Ayako Uehara, Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley, Wales’ Lydia Hall and French pair Ariane Klotz and Charlotte Liautier on four-under-par.
Japan’s Uehara began her round with back-to-back birdies on the first and second and her only dropped shot came on the 11th hole.
The Japanese player finished strong with birdies on 14 and 15 before rolling in another birdie on the last to seal a round of 67 (-4).
“It was very chilly this morning, but it was before the wind got up,” said Uehara. “On the first, I had a long putt which I made for birdie and then on the par-5 second, I had a five-metre putt for birdie.
“My putter was very good today compared to last week. The greens are a little bit tricky here, so that’s the key to a good round. I hope I keep doing what I did on the greens today for the rest of the week.”
Australia’s Rudgeley, who was runner-up here in 2024, had a good start to the tournament with a round of four-under-par.
The 24-year-old dropped her only shot of the day on the 18th and made birdies on holes four, nine, 12, 15 and 16.
“I actually played pretty nicely today, I can’t really fault my game in any area,” said Rudgeley. “I got the golf ball around and enjoyed it. My playing partners were good fun. I played with Chiara [Tamburlini] last round last week too, it’s good fun.
“The course is playing completely differently to last year, so I guess I just enjoy it here. Deauville is such a nice little place. A couple of times, I went for a lower trajectory because of the wind, but your main focus is to get it in the fairway. I didn’t think too much about the wind.
“My game is definitely getting better, I went through a little bit of a bad patch early on in the year. As soon as I fill in those little areas that aren’t so good, we will see where that takes me.”
France’s Klotz started on the 10th tee and made her first birdie on hole 16 before rolling in two more on the first and second.
The Frenchwoman then made a bogey on the fourth but bounced back with back-to-back birdies on her final two holes to also card a round of 67 (-4).
“It feels really nice because I played solid golf. I stayed focus on my process which was to not have any result-oriented objective today and to just enjoy myself,” said Klotz.
“My whole family is there, so that’s helping as well making it really feel like home. I played this course last year and the conditions were way worse, so it’s refreshing to get it under some sun.
“I played solid golf the whole round, I was trying to concentrate on playing in the zones. The greens are very slopey here, so trying to get as many uphill and easy putts. I had a few putts roll in and I played the par-5s really well.”
Wales’ Hall was another player to finish the day on four-under-par with one bogey and five birdies on her scorecard.
“I putted nicely, I had 28 putts I think today. I had one silly error on the par-3 where I didn’t get up-and-down but apart from that, it was pretty solid,” said Hall.
“It’s been solid all year, it’s just been whether the putts are going in or not to be totally honest. I made a driver change in the Netherlands where Callaway helped me out there and since then it’s been a lot more consistent and that’s enabled me to hit more fairways and greens and hole more putts.
“I’m still working with my psychologist every week and my coach, so nothing has changed there – it’s just one of those things where you get the ball going in more often and you get better scores.”
France’s Liautier had one dropped shot on her scorecard as she made birdies on the second, fourth, ninth, 13th and 16th holes to also be T3.
“My game was pretty strong today, I’m really happy about that. I didn’t make many mistakes which explains the score. I putted pretty strongly too, I think the score was thanks to the putting,” said Liautier.
“I’m really happy and proud because I got an invitation this week. It’s something special for sure getting to play here and I have my family here and my dad on my bag. I’m really happy to share the moment with my family this week.”
Ten players are one shot further back in a tie for eighth place including France’s Anne-Lise Caudal and Camille Chevalier.
Round two will begin at 8.15 am (local time) and there will be a cut to the top-60 professionals and ties at the end of the day.
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