COPENHAGEN, 8 August 2003 — Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin’s blistering 10-under-par 62 in the first round of the Nordic Open yesterday put the tournament’s two main attractions, Colin Montgomerie and Thomas Bjorn, firmly in the shade.

The 29-year-old Jacquelin, with his girlfriend Fanny Charbre caddying for him for the first time, ran up an eagle and nine birdies on an unblemished card.

He leads by three strokes from Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez and British pair Phillip Archer and Raymond Russell, who birdied the last six holes.

While Montgomerie had no excuse for a lackluster display on the greens in shooting a 70 to trail Jacquelin by eight shots, Bjorn was troubled by the neck spasms that have often blighted his career as he carded a 67 to lie five strokes behind.

The Danish home favorite, urged on by a huge crowd in the inaugural event at the Simon’s club, began in fine style, moving to four-under after eight holes.

But he then made three bogeys in five holes before rallying to pick up four shots in the last four.

Montgomerie had no problems with the hand injury that caused him to pull out of the British Open after only seven holes but he did have his problems with the putter.

Jacquelin, with two top-10 finishes this season but still seeking his maiden title, was delighted to equal his career-best score and happy that his girlfriend’s first stint on the bag proved a success.

“My usual caddie needs to be in Paris because of a few problems so I used his twin brother last week and that didn’t work out,” said Jacquelin, who hit the first shot in Denmark’s first full tour event.

“Fanny is out with me every week, so she knows golf and wanted a try. A 62 is a good start.” Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen hit the third albatross of the European Tour season, holing out with a three-wood 265 yards for a two at the long 18th, on his way to a 68.

Beem Hopes to Regain Magic at The International

In Denver, Colorado, Rich Beem will always have a soft spot in his heart for The International, which uses the modified Stableford scoring system and begins yesterday at the Castle Pines Golf Club.

A year ago, Beem was a relative unknown before piling up 19 points on the final day and outlasting Steve Lowery.

Two weeks later, Beem won the PGA Championship for his first major title.

Ranked 19th in the world, Beem has made seven of his last nine cuts with the best performance a runner-up finish at the Western Open.

Lowery has a love affair with Castle Pines, winning in 1994 and finishing second last year, when he holed out from the fairway to eagle the 15th and double-eagle the 17th to pull within a point of Beem.

In a rare occurrence, Lowery could only win or lose the tournament on the 18th hole, with a tie not possible since a single point is not available in the modified Stableford system. When Lowery missed his birdie putt, Beem had his second tour title.

This is also one of the favorite tournaments of Ernie Els. The world’s second-ranked player matched a tournament record with 48 points in 2000. Els won the European Tour’s Scottish Open last month.

Phil Mickelson set the record for points here in 1997. But this has been a rough year for Mickelson, who is 35th on the money list and in danger of missing out on the Tour Championship.