Three share French Open lead

Colin Montgomerie is one of three joint leaders in the Novotel Perrier French Open at the end of the first round.

He fired a five-under-par 67 to share the lead with France's Jean-Francois Remesy and Sweden's Marten Olander.

Olander equalled the European Tour record for consecutive birdies, carding eight in a row and nine in 10 holes.

Montgomerie said he has gone back to basics in an attempt to rediscover former glories.

"What I do best is my own thing. I did that for a number of years and was quite successful at it," he said.

Montgomerie ended his round with four birdies in his last five holes, the same stretch over which he finished with two eagles to win here two years ago.

"Instead of trying to hit the ball further to be like whoever, I've taken a step back to go forward, what got me to a position of strength in Europe.

"I've decided to think about me for a change instead of everybody else."

Asked what prompted such a decision, Montgomerie added: "I'm doing an autobiography and there are a few chapters on the odd Order of Merit position. I was looking back through the yearbooks to jog my memory and noticed I used to score 68 a bit.

"Four 68s usually wins. The winning scores have not come down that much but there are more people capable of shooting 16 under, I had just forgotten one of them was me.''

Defending champion Jose Maria Olazabal had mixed feelings about his 69 after battling with the biting wind and rain that greeted the early starters.

Meanwhile, Des Smyth fared the best of the Irish with a one-under par round.

Northern Ireland's Ronan Rafferty ended his round on five over and Philip Walton fared one shot worse.