SWINDON'S David Howell made the ideal start to the Alstom Open de France in between two thunderstorms which disrupted play at Le Golf National on Thursday.

Play was suspended just moments before it was due to get under way at 7.30am local time, although the initial delay was just 30 minutes and Howell wasted no time carding birdies on the 10th and 11th - his first two holes - when play did commence.

However, only 42 minutes of play was possible before the threat of lightning again forced players off the course, with Howell joined on two under par by Denmark's Lasse Jensen, who had picked up shots on the first and second.

Tournament officials later announced that play would resume at 10.40 local time, a total delay of two hours and 28 minutes which would have a knock-on effect for the later starters, including the hat-trick seeking Graeme McDowell.

Howell almost holed from 60 feet on the 13th but did not have to wait long for his next birdie, chipping in from just off the green on the par-five 14th.

At three under par the former Ryder Cup star held a one-shot lead over Jensen, France's Joel Stalter and Spain's Adrian Otaegui, with 2007 champion Graeme Storm among a large group on one under.

McDowell successfully defended a title for the first time in his career 12 months ago and would become the first player since Marcel Dallemagne in 1938 to win Continental Europe's oldest Open three times in succession with another victory on Sunday.

The Ryder Cup star would also become just the sixth player, after Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, to claim a hat-trick of European Tour titles in the same event.

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