Chilean forges ahead in France

Chile’s Felipe Aguilar leads the Aa St Omer Open after a five-under-par 66 put him a shot clear of the field in northern France.

The 31-year-old European Tour rookie from Santiago leads from South Africa’s Jean Hugo and Sweden’s Klas Eriksson, with England’s David Dixon tied for third in a group on three under.

After a two-hour rain delay in the morning Aguilar birdied the par-four first and never looked back, picking up further strokes at the fifth, eighth and ninth to turn in 32.

Another birdie at the 422-yard 10th took him to five under and although he bogeyed the short next he clawed the shot back at the 15th.

“I have been working hard on my short game for several months now and it has been coming together for the last couple of weeks. Today was pretty good,” said Aguilar, who became the first Chilean to earn full European Tour membership when he claimed the 18th card at the final stage of the qualifying school last year.

“I hit it solid off the fairway and was solid off the tee and didn’t miss too many greens. Every putt that I hit was right on line so I can’t complain.”

Dixon, starting at the 10th, birdied two of his first four holes only to spoil his card with a bogey at the 531-yard 14th.

He picked up further strokes at the fifth and ninth to close with a round of 68.

“It was nice to shoot a decent score because I really want to try and win this week,” said the 29-year-old from Bridgwater, who is currently 147th on the Order of Merit and chasing the relatively small first prize of £45,500 for this event co-sanctioned between the European and Challenge Tours.

“I need to finish top five or it doesn’t make much difference to my cause. So I am chuffed with the start.”