Hansen makes his mark

Denmark's Soren Hansen closed in on overnight leader Jean Van de Velde when the French Open finally got back under way this morning.

Halted by a thunderstorm at 3.30pm yesterday, Hansen resumed on four under par after six holes and after a birdie on the ninth to turn in 31 he started the inward half with another to join England's Jonathan Lomas in second place just a stroke behind.

Scotland's Raymond Russell was also four under when the stoppage came, but he picked up a further stroke at the fifth, leaving him joint fourth with Swede Henrik Stenson, who still had seven to play.

Van de Velde, whose opening 64 matched the lowest round of his European tour career, was not the only home player off to a good start in their bid to emulate Jean-Francois Remesy last year.

Christian Cevaer stood four under after 12 holes to be three ahead of playing partners Paul McGinley and Stephen Dodd.

After a further birdie at the short eighth, Russell, whose one and only tour win in over 250 starts came in the 1996 Cannes Open, missed a putt of under three feet on the last.

With a six-under 65 he was one behind Van de Velde, as were Hansen and South African Charl Schwartzel with four and three holes to play.