Scotland's walking wounded shrugged off their ailments to make positives starts to the Alstom Open de France in Paris.
Stephen Gallacher and Richie Ramsay, who have both been nursing niggling injuries of late, finished among the frontrunners on a day in which the Le Golf National course, the venue that will host the 2018 Ryder Cup, took no prisoners.
Luke Donald, the former world No.1, racked up a triple-bogey 7 at the 470-yard par-4 18th after finding a fairway bunker off the tee then dumping his third shot into the water surrounding the green. Marcel Siem, the holder, and Matteo Manassero, the BMW PGA champion, both took 8s. Thomas Levet, the 2011 champion, tumbled to a 9 on the 13th.
However, Denmark's Anders Hansen made a mockery of the high scores by covering the back nine in 31 on his way to a five-under-par 66 that left the two-time PGA Championship winner one shot ahead of the Frenchman Romain Wattel. The 42-year-old has played just 10 events so far this season and will undergo a hand opera-tion on Tuesday that will keep him out of several more, but said: I've been struggling for a long time with it and it just came to a point where the cortisone didn't kick in anymore, and I need an operation, otherwise I just can't keep playing."
Gallacher, meanwhile, negotiated the back nine superbly. He started on the 10th and made five birdies over his first seven holes to move to the front but he slipped back with bogeys at seven, eight and nine in a three-under 68.
"I was it disappointed with the finish but every hole is demanding so it's good to get under par," said Gallacher, three behind Hansen. "I've had a bad back for a month and I'm getting physio before and after rounds. I'm just getting old, to be honest."
He is 23rd on the Race to Dubai money list, but fifth among those not yet into the Open. To earn a place in only his sixth Open, he must be not only top-five but inside the top 20 after the French Open. He currently trails the 20th-placed player, Malaysia's Kiradech Aphibarnrat, by £17,535. Aphibarnrat, who already has a place at Muirfield, shot 76, so a top-30 finish for Gallacher should be enough.
Scott Jamieson, Marc Warren and Richie Ramsay all posted 69s and Warren, who is fourth among the non-exempt Open candidates, is just one spot and £850 behind Aphibarnrat in 21st place.
Ramsay was delighted with his form on his return to competition after a six-week break because of a nagging hip injury. "When someone takes something away from you, you then realise how much you want it and how much you like coming out to compete," he said. "I played some great golf and to be two under on one of the toughest courses we will play all year is very pleasing."
Martin Kaymer, another former champion, was in the nine-strong group on three-under with Gallacher, while the former US Open champion, Graeme McDowell, who has missed the cut in five of his last six strokeplay events, was a stroke further back after a 69.
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