It was just like old times in Paris yesterday where the sun shone brightly on the cream of European golf and the name of Seve Ballesteros was at the top of the leaderboard.
Europe's Ryder Cup captain shot a first-round 65 in the Lancome Trophy at St-Nom-LaBreteche and in the process handed out a lesson to two of the rookies who will be under the Spaniard's wing at Valderrama in two weeks' time, Darren Clarke and Jesper Parnevik.
Both finished eight shots behind after late errors which saw Clarke finish 6-7 and the Swede 5-5. In contrast Ballesteros ended his round with four successive birdies. The Spaniard has won this prestige Parisian promotion on four occasions, one of them shared with Bernhard Langer. But it is two years since he won the last of his 54 European titles, the Spanish Open in Madrid.
Yesterday, Ballesteros produced his best round since he shot a six-under-par 66 in the second round of the Oki Pro-Am at La Moraleja last October, where he finished third to rival Ryder captain Tom Kite. It included a vintage Seve recovery at the par five sixth, his 15th, where he got down on his knees to strike a four-wood through a tiny gap in the trees to a green 185 yards away. Then he sank a 15-foot putt for a birdie four.
Ballesteros birdied the next three holes as well to be home in 32, and share the lead with Australian Peter O'Malley.
"It felt very much like the old days," said Ballesteros. "I have been through a very tough and difficult time, but maybe now I have no more problems."
Clarke thought he had none either after adding two birdies in the first seven inward holes to an outward par 35 from the 10th. But he took six at the uphill long eighth after hitting the huge tree guarding the left side of the green with his pitch shot, and disaster followed at the drive-and-pitch ninth in the form of a triple bogey. Here he shanked his tee shot into bushes, and was playing his second from short of the women's tee. He missed the green with his third, then flopped his recovery chip into a greenside bunker and took three more to hole out, as Ballesteros waited patiently to convert a three-foot birdie opportunity.
Clarke signed for a 73 as did Parnevik after dumping his pitch shot into the pond beside the ninth green.
Christy O'Connor Jnr, who took 78, also went into the pond, and Eamonn Darcy joined him in the water, after first going into the bunker on the other side of the putting surface. But the Galway golfer escaped with a bogey, whereas Darcy took a triple bogey six for a 76. O'Connor later withdrew, citing a recurrence of his persistent problems with his left elbow for his decision not to play the second round.
Des Smyth, who is struggling to keep his card, opened promisingly with a 69 that contained three birdies in his first 11 holes but a three-putt from 30 feet at the 15th.
Ronan Rafferty continued his run of good form with a 69 which Philip Walton would have matched but for three-putting the last. Successive birdies at the 16th and 17th, where he hit a nine-iron approach a foot from the flag, put Walton two under par, but he failed to get down in two putts from the front of the par three 18th.
Raymond Burns withdrew with a bad back after playing his first nine holes in 40 strokes, while David Higgins did serious damage to his chances by taking 41 home for a 75.
