Late birdie blitz propels George Coetzee to top in France

SOUTH African George Coetzee fired a five-under-par 66 in tricky conditions to lead the way in the first round of the Saint-Omer Open.

The 24-year-old finished with three consecutive birdies at Aa Saint Omer Golf Club to lie two shots ahead of Australian Matthew Zions, Norway's Eirik Tage Johansen, Italian Andrea Perrino, Benoit Teilleria of France and Dane Thomas Norret.

Craig Lee is leading Scot in a tie for seventh on two-under, closely followed by Callum Macaulay and Steven O'Hara on 71.

Coetzee, whose early tee time meant he avoided the worst of the wet, windy weather which blighted the northern France venue for much of the day, attributed his score to some fine form on the greens.

"The wind is starting to pick up now but it wasn't that bad this morning," he said. "I putted pretty well, that's the reason for my score. It's not easy to get the ball on the green or to keep it there if you do get it on the green. But I played well over the last three holes and it's a good start.

"I just kept trying to make pars, I didn't really care about my score. I bogeyed the 13th (his fourth hole, having teed off from the tenth) and thought to myself 'I can get really mad now or I can just keep trying to make pars'. You just have to keep plugging away and not try to hit it off the planet."

The Qualifying School graduate has not won on the European Tour, but triumphed in the Sunshine Tour's Telkom PGA Championship earlier this year.

"When I went home for that week I started swinging it better and to win was great," he said. "I couldn't believe I missed the cut in the Wales Open two weeks ago because I felt so good about my game. It will come, I've just got to stay patient."

Norret, who this season returned to the game after a six-year break, was the only player of the day not to have a bogey on his card. "I hit a lot of good shots today and whenever I didn't hit a good shot I managed to save par well," said the 37-year-old, who has won once on the Challenge Tour, at the 2002 Volvo Finnish Open. "I've been playing well and have felt like this sort of round has been coming."

Lee signed for three birdies, while fellow Team Scottish Hydro player Macaulay was out in four-under 32 but dropped three shots in his last three holes. Marc Warren was three-under after his opening three holes but had back-to-back double-bogeys in his 72, one better than Alastair Forsyth.