Ivan Cantero Gutierrez alone in the lead, three French in the top 10 at the UAE Challenge

While some players still had to play two holes, nightfall caused the suspension of the first round of this UAE Challenge. Most golfers still had time to finish their round. This is the case of Ivan Cantero Gutierrez, leader this Thursday evening. If he shared first place for a long time, the Spaniard gave the decisive boost to take the lead alone (-5). Whoever finished second at the Abu Dhabi Challenge last Sunday returned a card of 67 (2 eagles, 3 birdies, including two on the last three holes, 2 bogeys). At -4, the podium is completed by Conor Purcell and Brandon Stone.

The first day smiles on the French

Three French people have ideally launched their Emirati tournament and rank 4th. Indeed, Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon finished his first day in 69 shots thanks to 5 birdies and despite 1 double bogey conceded at hole number 18. At -3, he is accompanied by Ugo Coussaud, author of an error-free card and embellished of 3 birdies as well as Benjamin Hebert, who recorded 6 birdies and 3 bogeys.

Two other French people in the top 15

This 4th rank is also occupied by Manuel Elvira, Craig Howie, Joel Moscatel Nachshon, Elias Bertheussen, Oscar Lengden, Om Prakash Chouhan and Daniel Young (1 hole remaining). Among the other French representatives involved, Julien Sale (1 eagle, 2 birdies, 2 bogeys) and Clément Berardo (8 birdies, 6 bogeys) also started well, rising to 14th place (-2). Victor Riu completed his first round in par (39th) and Martin Couvra, an amateur golfer, found himself 56th (+1).

Robin Roussel and Tom Vaillant were in more difficulty. Both players are in 73rd place (+2). Jean Bekirian and Pierre Pineau take 97th place (+3), Frédéric Lacroix is ​​113th (+4) while Félix Mory painfully finished this first lap in 127th position (+5).