Ines Laklalech, Meghan MacLaren and Nastasia Nadaud all carded six-under 65s on Thursday to share the lead following the first round of the Lacoste Ladies Open de France.
World number 14 Céline Boutier is among six players tied for fourth place at Golf Barrière Deauville on four-under-par. The defending champion is joined by Anne-Lise Caudal, Smilla Tarning Soenderby, Anais Meysonnier, Klara Spilkova and Leonie Harm.
Moroccan Laklalech, who fired seven birdies and one bogey in the windier afternoon conditions, said: “I’m really pleased because I didn’t feel good on the practise range this morning but I went shot by shot and I’m happy with the way I finished my day. I couldn’t reach all of the par 5s but I just adapted my shots depending on what the wind was telling me to do. I think the difficult part was the tee shots and you had to focus hard on that.”
England’s MacLaren started with a bogey on the 10th and rolled in her first birdie of the day on the 18th to make the turn in level par and then opened her inward nine of 29 with three straight birdies, followed by three more consecutive birdies to close her round on holes seven, eight and nine.
“I got off to a bit of a slow start but on the back nine everything fell into place. I think I gradually got more confident. I’ve been struggling a little bit lately and I felt quite good at the beginning of this week but at the start of my round I still wasn’t playing with the kind of freedom that I would do whenever I feel at my best. The longer the round went on I started to trust myself and I felt really good on the greens, which always helps. It’s just a combination of things clicking into place,” MacLaren said.
Nadaud was the sole member of the leaders to record a bogey-free round and she played in the first group of the morning from the 10th tee, before the wind gained strength in the afternoon.
After firing six birdies, the 17-year-old amateur from Aix-les-Bains, who recently won the Goteborg Ladies Open on the LET Access Series said: “It’s just amazing. I did not expect to be on top of the leaderboard. It’s unbelievable.
“My goal was to hit fairways and greens and make some putts. Tomorrow, I won’t think about the score. I’ll try to forget about what I did today and get back to zero and then see how things go.”
This is the first time that Golf Barrière is hosting the tournament. The venue is decorated with works of art by French artists and the branding has been modernised to mix sport with culture and attract a new audience this year.
