Lucas Bjerregaard had some obstacles to overcome during the first round of the French Open Thursday.
First and foremost, his airline lost his golf clubs. Now that’s a real problem for a professional golfer.
Fortunately, Nike stepped in quickly and brought him a replacement set for Wednesday’s pro-am.
The 24-year-old Dane then did the improbable Thursday morning at Le Golf National. He aced the 202-yard par three second hole with a perfect seven-iron shot to get his day going in high gear. He joked on Wednesday with his pro-am partners after hitting it close on the same hole that he’d never made a hole-in-one.
That changed when it counted and he went on to shoot a five-under par 66 to take the early lead in the big-name event. “I didn’t get my clubs Tuesday, they still haven’t found them,” Bjerregaard said with a grin after his round. “Maybe I should just keep these now and let the airline keep my old set.”
The European Tour, in a radical move, did not sanction this week’s WGC event in Akron. Instead, it is giving double Ryder Cup points at this event.
Rory McIlroy, the biggest name at the 100th playing of the French event, had a ho-hum event par round of 71. Luke Donald struggled with 73 as did Paddy Harrington.
