South African James Kamte and Kyron Sullivan from Wales were the surprise front-runners on six-under-par 65 after the French Open first round today.

Kamte's best performance was a tie for 16th in this year's South African Open and the Challenge Tour player had to pre-qualify here.
   
The 24-year-old from Johannesburg carded an eagle and six birdies as he tried to repeat the feat of compatriot Vincent Tshabalala, who won the French Open against the odds in 1976.
   
But it is the head of the Ernie Els Foundation who will get the plaudits if former soccer player Kamte wins one of the richest events in Europe.
   
"Ernie was unbelievable, paying for accommodation, giving us pocket money, paying for food, caddies, giving us golf clubs. I owe him so much," the black South African told reporters.

"I have always said if I ever win a big event he is the first guy I would thank. He gave me opportunities to play when no one would and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be sitting here today."
   
Kamte's co-leader Sullivan went to the top of the leaderboard after a blemish-free card that contained six birdies. The Welsh rookie has missed the cut 10 times in 16 starts this year.
   
Swedes Steven Jeppesen and Christian Nilsson and British pair Graeme Storm and Benn Barham shared third place on 66, one shot in front of home favourite Thomas Levet.
   
Eight-times European number one Colin Montgomerie, looking for his first victory since the 2005 Hong Kong Open, was a further stroke back.
   
The Scot vowed to silence the critics who have condemned his poor results this year.
   
"There is one way to shut everybody up and that's to win," said Montgomerie.
   
Irishman Philip Walton, who beat Bernhard Langer in a playoff in the 1990 French Open, took a 12 on the 18th in his round of 89 while South Africa's Andrew McLardy had a 13 at the last in his 83.

Paul McGinley and Peter Lawrie both opened with two under 69s but McGinley's card could have been better had he not bogeyed the last two holes.

Gary Murphy was a shot further back on one under while Graeme McDowell shot level par.

Collated scores after the first round of the French Open Alstom at Le Golf National, Guyancourt, Paris(Gbr and Ire unless stated, par 71):

65 James Kamte (Rsa), Kyron Sullivan

66 Christian Nilsson (Swe), Benn Barham, Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Graeme Storm

67 Thomas Levet (Fra)

68 Colin Montgomerie, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Markus Brier (Aut), Damien
McGrane, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra),
Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Zane Scotland

69 Gregory Havret (Fra), Anthony Wall, Johan Axgren (Swe), Peter Lawrie, Soren
Hansen (Den), Paul McGinley, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Robert-Jan Derksen
(Ned)

70 Santiago Luna (Spa), James Kingston (Rsa), Marcus Higley, Ian Poulter,
Martin Kaymer (Ger), Oliver Fisher, Gary Murphy, Tom Whitehouse, Thaworn
Wiratchant (Thai), Simon Khan, Ariel Canete (Arg), Soren Kjeldsen (Den), David
Griffiths

71 David Bransdon (Aus), Lee Westwood, Richard Sterne (Rsa), Christian Cevaer
(Fra), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Garry Houston, John Bickerton, Stephen Dodd, Ross
Fisher, Juan Parron (Spa), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Richard Finch, Gary Orr,
Stephen Gallacher, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Paul Lawrie, Graeme McDowell,
Thongchai Jaidee (Thai), Benoit Teilleria (Fra), Robert Rock, Edward Rush

72 Mark Pilkington, Sven Struver (Ger), Mardan Mamat (Sing), Phillip Archer,
Marcel Siem (Ger), Rafael Echenique (Arg), James Hepworth, David Lynn, Mark
Foster, Taichi Teshima (Jpn), Steve Webster, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Francois
Delamontagne (Fra)

73 Kenneth Ferrie, Peter Gustafsson (Swe), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Oliver
Wilson, Peter O'Malley (Aus), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Alejandro Canizares (Spa),
Pelle Edberg (Swe), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Jean-Bapiste Gonnet (Fra), Bradley
Dredge, Nick Dougherty, Julien Guerrier, David Park, Patrik Sjoland (Swe)

74 Andrew Tampion (Aus), Matthew Millar, Anders Hansen (Den), Brett Rumford
(Aus), Renaud Guillard (Fra), Gary Emerson, Ian Garbutt, Gary Lockerbie,
Christopher Hanell (Swe), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Ricardo
Gonzalez (Arg), Paul Broadhurst, Steven O'Hara, Joakim Backstrom (Swe)

75 David Carter, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Richard Bland, Francesco Molinari
(Ita), Wade Ormsby (Aus), Adam Frayne, YE Yang (Kor), Simon Dyson, Diego Torne
(Spa), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Philip Golding, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Phillip Price,
Shiv Kapur (Ind), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Daniel Vancsik (Arg)

76 Andrew Coltart, Malcolm Mackenzie, James Heath, Cedric Menut (Fra), Eric
Moreul (Fra), Laurent Richard (Bel), Julien Foret (Fra)

77 Francois Calmels (Fra), Scott Drummond, Andrew Marshall, Jean-Francois
Remesy (Fra), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Adrien Mork (Fra), Raphael
Pellicioli (Fra)

78 Jonathan Evans, Carl Suneson (Spa), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Jean Van de
Velde (Fra), Lee Slattery, Alexander Noren (Swe)

79 Alexandre Rocha (Bra), Richard Green (Aus), Andres Romero (Arg), Mattias
Eliasson (Swe), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Terry Price (Aus)

80 Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Simon Hurd, Alastair Forsyth, Julien Quesne (Fra)

81 Marc Warren

82 Simon Wakefield, Miles Tunnicliff

83 Anton Haig (Rsa), Sam Walker, Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Ignacio Garrido (Spa)

85 Cesar Monasterio (Arg)

89 Philip Walton