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German star Martin Kaymer leads after round one at Le Golf National.

The 24 year old began the Open de France ALSTOM with a course record-equalling round of 62.

So bad was Kaymer’s right foot that as well as being seen by a doctor he had a hole cut in his golf shoe to allow him to play Wednesday’s pro-am.

With the help of his three partners he won that by four with an amazing 16 under par best-ball of 55, but to be only seven worse than that on his own underlined what a massive talent he is.

Kaymer’s round actually began with a bogey, but after five birdies in the next nine holes he chipped in for eagle at the long third and finished with three more birdies for an inward 30.

Nick Dougherty followed up his win at the BMW International Open with a 66 and Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie, without a top ten finish since he was runner-up in this event last year, returned a 69.

Miguel Angel Jiménez, celebrated his 500th European Tour event but began with a hook into the water, he did however hit back for a 67 and fellow Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal, the defending champion, matched that with five birdies in the last six holes – after a triple bogey eight on the ninth.

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England’s Nick Dougherty has won the European Tour BMW International Open.

Dougherty claimed his first European Tour title for two years with a one shot victory over Rafa Echenique at the BMW International Open. Dougherty who started the day in third position tied with David Drysdale at three shots behind Retief Goosen, made nine birdies and just a one bogey for the round which secured a score of eight under for the day with 64 bringing his total for the tournement to 22 under par.

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Retief Goosen remained on course for a wire-to-wire victory after the third round of the BMW International Open at Golfclub München Eichenried, but the veteran Bernhard Langer is leading the chase for the top spot.

Goosen, who has been in the lead since his opening round of 64, shot 67 today for a two stroke advantage, but should have been even further in front. Goosen missed a putt of barely a foot on the long sixth hole and drove his ball into the water for a closing bogey on the 18th, but was still in good spirits as seven birdies kept him clear of the field.

Bernhard Langer The 51 year old German goes into the final round in Munich – not far from where he grew up – in second place, only two behind South African star Goosen. If Langer does go on to take the win, it will be the 75th victory of his professional career.

Other Notes from todays European Tour golf:

• Colin Montgomerie made an impressive hole in one on the par 3 8th. Taking his European Tour record total to 9.
• England’s Nick Dougherty fell into a tie for third on 14 under with Scotland’s David Drysdale after making bogey on the 18th.

The Final round is to be played tomorrow, will Goosen be the wire-to-wire winner? or will Langer and the chasing group be able to catch him?

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Retief Goosen from South Africa remains in the lead at the European Tour BMW International Open after the second round by adding a a score of 68 to his opening round of 64.

The 2 time US Open Champion moved to 12 under par and he is now one ahead of Søren Kjeldsen from Denmark. Goosen went 33 holes without a bogey, but after dropping a stroke at the 441 yard 7th he closed with his 13th birdie of the week.

Currently tied for 3rd spot is Nick Dougherty from England and David Drysdale from scotland 2 shots back from Goosen at -10.

Other noteables:

Bernhard Langer is T8 at 8 under par. and Colin Montgomerie dropped 15 places to finish the second round T56 with an overall score of -3.

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Retief Goosen leads the European Tour BMW International Open at Golfclub München Eichenried

Retief Goosen is the current leader of the BMW International Open after round 1.
Goosen who finished tied for 16th at the US Open Bethpage Black, shot a first round of 64 to finish at 8-under-par with a 2 shot lead over Richard Finch.

Finch began his round on the 10th, and followed a birdie on the 11th and 15th with a bogey at the 16th However, he topped that in the second half of his first round in a sodden Munich, birdying the first before following a 22-foot eagle putt on the sixth by holing birdie attempts from 35 and 18 feet at the seventh and ninth to finish with a six under par 66.

Behind Finch and Goosen there is 9 players tied for 3rd including Stephen Dodd who is currently 26th on the European Tour race to Dubai, and Niclas Fasth who is sitting at 38th.

Goosen described his round, beginning with his reflections on the par three third where he picked up his second birdie: “I holed about a 25 footer,” he said.

“And then obviously the next two holes are very much birdie holes, and I didn’t make birdies there, but the par five, I had a good birdie again there and chipped down to a couple of feet.

“Nine, I holed a ten footer for birdie on nine. The front nine was good.

“Disappointing par on the 11th. I hit a five wood into the green, hit it in the bunker and it came out about ten feet and missed that.”

He added: “The 16th  is always a chance for birdie but they have the flag close to the water there today, and I hit a five wood off the tee and had about 80 yards left and hit it to about 12 feet behind the hole and made a good putt there.

“At the 17th, I hit a seven iron similar sort of distance, 12, 15 feet.

“The 18th was a good drive and my second, completely splashed it right into the TV towers and stuff on the right there. When you get a round like this going, it’s nice to get a break and make it a really good round.

“It could easily have gone in the water and ended up being a six and been disappointing.”

Other Notables:

Rory McIlroy is currently T63 with a score of 1-under-par
Colin Montgomerie is Tied for 41st at -2 after scoring 70 on his first round
Bernhard Langer who is playing in his home tournement is currently tied for 12th spot with a score of 68 (4-under-par)

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Sweden’s Christian Nilsson eased to his first European Tour victory with a faultless final round performance at the SAINT-OMER Open.

Nilsson, who was the runner-up in the event last year, started the day with a four shot lead and never looked like relinquishing his advantage as he carded a bogey-free round of 69.

His final total of 13 under par ensured he finished six shots clear of Portugal’s José-Filipe Lima, who carded six birdies on his way to a closing round of 68.

Spain’s Javier Colomo and England’s Richard McEvoy closed with rounds of 66 and 67 respectively to finish tied for third on three under, along with Swede Åke Nilsson and Italian Lorenzo Gagli.

England’s James Morrison had started the day as Nilsson’s nearest challenger, but he had to be content with a share of seventh after a poor round of 76 saw him slip to two under for the tournament.

Nilsson Deserved the victory after playing very solid golf throughout the tournement.

First round leader Fredrik Andersson Hed finished tied for 23rd with a final score of +1.

And Second round leader Wade Ormsby finished tied for 15th with a total of 284 to finish at Par.

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Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson Hed, shot six birdies in an almost perfect opening round of 65 to claim a one-stroke lead on the first day of the European Tour Saint-Omer Open.

The 37 year old swede edged ahead of the Australians Michael Curtain and Tony Carolan as the best of the morning starters.

Andersson Hed, who started at the 10th hole, began with a birdie and added another at the 15th to turn at two under.

After a succession of 4 pars, he then made birdie on four of his final five holes to move to the top of the leaderboard in the dual ranking event, which carries a prize fund of €600,000.

Andersson Said:
“I had a very pleasing day at the office, I only hit a couple of bad tee shots all day, and even managed to get away with them. “I just hope I can keep going for all four rounds this week. I’ve been striking the ball well lately, even though I missed the cut on the Challenge Tour in Ireland last week. So the game’s definitely there or thereabouts at the moment.”

Andersson Hed was almost caught by Tony Carolan, who also started on the back nine, but the Australian made a bogey on his penultimate hole the 389-yard eighth, and only a birdie at the last got him back to five under.
Micheal Curtain also dropped a shot on the eighth hole but he made amends with an eagle at the 500-yard 9th to turn in a 33, and with three birdies and one bogey on the back nine moved him to five under.

“My game’s been ticking along quite nicely lately, but today everything really clicked into gear,” Curtain said.
“I didn’t do anything spectacular out there – I just didn’t make any silly errors. Over the past few weeks I’ve got off to great starts, but then pushing too hard has cost me dear. So I’ve just tried to play smart golf, and it’s worked for me so far.”

One stroke back at -4 are Spaniard Carlos Del Moral who also eagled the ninth to cover the front nine with best score of the day: 32, and England’s James Morrison who did not drop a single shot in his round of 67.

Also, Argentina’s Clodomiro Carranza, made a hole-in-one at the par 3 17th and won a Renault Twingo.

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