Ewen Ferguson at Open de France: “I said to my caddie before I went out: ‘I need to keep my mouth shut today,’ because if you start moaning, you never stop”; “It was that bad this morning and I know what I’m like so I just tried my best to zip it and grind it out as much as I could.”
Last Updated: 21/09/23 9:27pm
Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson sits two shots off the lead after the opening round at the Open de France
Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson reaped the rewards of taking a vow of silence as he made an excellent start to the Cazoo Open de France at Le Golf National.
Ferguson carded an eagle, four birdies and a solitary bogey in an opening 66 at the 2018 Ryder Cup venue to lie two shots off the lead held by South Korea’s Tom Kim, with the English duo of Matthew Southgate and Richard Mansell part of a four-way tie for second on six under.
“I said to my caddie before I went out, ‘I need to keep my mouth shut today’ because if you start moaning, you never stop,” Ferguson, who overcame the rain and wind which made scoring more difficult for the early starters, said.
“It was that bad this morning and I know what I’m like so I just tried my best to zip it and grind it out as much as I could.
“I bogeyed 18 (his ninth) to get back to level par but I was actually all right with that because it’s a tough hole and a lot of other people were making bogeys.
“I missed a couple of chances on one and two, my 10th and 11th, and almost threw a strop, but chipped in on the third for eagle which was nice and gave me a little pep in my step that I needed and really picked me up.
“Me and Richard Mansell had dinner last night and I saw he played well today and we were actually saying it’s in the top three courses on Tour.
“It’s a really tough test and you need to hit fairways and greens which I’m usually quite good at, which is shown in my score today.”
Kim was also among the morning wave and defied the conditions to return a flawless 64, the world No 18 covering the back nine in 34 before starting for home with six birdies in the space of seven holes.
The 21-year-old, who admitted he is using the week partly as preparation for next year’s Olympic Games at the same venue, said: “I didn’t really expect anything.
“It played really hard today with the rain. I knew I was playing well and I just tried to play the round as stress-free as possible.
“I hit it really well, positioned myself well off the tee and definitely feeling good going into the next three days.”
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who is the only member of Europe’s Ryder Cup team competing this week, was three under par after six holes but eventually had to settle for a level-par 71.
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