Second generation Irishman John Gough carded a bogey-free round of 63 to hold a one-stroke lead after day one of the Blot Play9 at Golf Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André, while Mark Power and Liam Nolan also started strongly and are just outside the top 10.
Power, who had a long wait to get his maiden campaign as a HotelPlanner Tour card holder underway with low category status, has steadily progressed and is now inside the top 100 in the Road to Mallorca rankings. He was among the early starters in round one and carded a bogey-free 67, mixing three birdies with 15 pars.
He was later joined on that number by Nolan, who recovered from an early double bogey to make five birdies in total in the hot and humid conditions, and he’ll have the benefit of an early tee time on Friday.
Ronan Mullarney and John Ross Galbraith share 44th at level-par after matching rounds of 70, while Cormac Sharvin at +2 is just the wrong side of the projected cutline.
James Sugrue has one additional shot to make up at +3, while Max Kennedy, who opened with a round of 60 and went on to lose out in a playoff in last year’s staging, is off to a slow start on this occasion and lies tied for 111th at +4.
Gough, a former Irish Amateur Open champion with parents from Newry and County Meath, got off to a hot start, opening his round with back-to-back birdies.
Gough went on to make a further five gains, including three in a row after the turn.
“It was nice,” he said. “It’s not often that four is your highest score and I’ve been struggling on the par fives recently, so having two of them and taking advantage of them definitely helped.”
“I got off to a hot start which was nice. I lipped out on three, so I feel like my scoring could have been a bit better, but you take what you can get.”
The 27-year-old made gains on five of his opening twelve holes to keep the momentum going and praised his playing partners, Wouter de Vries and Maxime Legros, who carded rounds of 64 and 67 respectively.
“The group did well,” he added. “Wouter and Maxime also played really well so that helped to push me along.
“I had two nice saves on 17 and 14 which kept the momentum going.
“I’m very pleased to get in on day one and post a good number. Obviously, there’s a long way to go and the course is already getting fiery, and it will be quite fun over the next few days.”
Gough will be looking for another good result at Blot Play9, after impressing at the 2025 edition where he finished just two shots behind eventual winner James Morrison in fourth place and is pleased to put himself into early contention by taking advantage of a calm morning at a course that is open to the elements on the northwest coast of France.
“I had a nice run here last year so I kind of know what to expect come the weekend, so I’m looking forwards to it.
“There wasn’t too much wind out there, we definitely got the nicer side of the draw here, although the wind may not pick up as much as expected this afternoon.
“It was nice to get out early, especially with how hot it is too.”
Spanish pair Joseba Torres and Pablo Ereño are a shot off the pace alongside Wouter De Vries and Tom Gueant with German Marc Hammer sitting in solo sixth on five under par.
The second round of the Blot Play9 gets under way at 7:40am on Friday, with Gough, De Vries and Legros teeing off at 1:50pm.
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