KENT’S Steven Tiley and Robin Sciot-Siegrist hold a one-shot lead at Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge at the end of round one having carded bogey-free rounds of 64, to top the leaderboard on seven-under par.
Both players made seven birdies during their opening round at Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil to share the lead ahead of French pair and European Tour winners Grégory Bourdy and Grégory Havret.
Tiley finished runner-up to wire-to-wire champion Richard McEvoy last year and continued his impressive form on the Le Vaudreuil layout, recording five birdies in his first eight holes.
The Royal Cinque Ports player maintained his consistency on the back nine with two further gains, including one of the 18th to join Sciot-Siegrist in the lead.
“I’m very pleased with today,” said Tiley, who is in his 11th season on the Challenge Tour and has earned his card at the European Tour Qualifying School twice, since turning pro in 2007.
“It’s been quite a struggle so far this year, so it was nice to come here and start like that,” said Tiley, who qualified for the 2004 Open at Royal Troon, as an amateur.
“If you can limit your mistakes in this game that always helps, so that helped in making a good start,” added the former Georgia State University graduate who played for England in 2004 and 2005.
Sciot-Siegrist, winner of the 2017 Galgorm Resort & Spa Northern Ireland Open, got off to a quick start with back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes, before following suit with further gains on the sixth and seventh, making the turn at four-under.
The trend of consecutive birdies continued on the back nine, as the 25-year-old extended his advantage on the 12th and 13th and gained his final shot of the day with a delicate up-and-down birdie on the last to lead in the clubhouse at seven under par.
“It was a good round of golf and I played really well throughout the round,” said Sciot-Siegrist. “I made lots of birdies and played really well.
“I thought I was good off the tee and my putting was pretty good as well. I hit a lot of fairways and greens, which helped my chances with the putter, and overall, everything was great.
“It was one of those days where it was great to be on the golf course. The up-and-down felt really good because seven under is quite a low score.
“I was really happy to make the putt on 18 to keep momentum going into tomorrow and hopefully go as low as possible over the next few days.”
Bourdy, who is playing his first full European Challenge Tour season since 2004, signed for a round of 65 to sit one stroke off the leaders, while compatriot Havret lies a further shot back following his five-under round of 66.
The second round of Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge gets under way at 7:40am local time with Tiley teeing off at 9:10am and Sciot-Siegrist at 1:30pm.
•Follow lives scoring today and over the weekend here.
