Justin Rose went to Paris looking to build on his fifth-place finish in his US Open debut - and more or less succeeded despite picking up a bizarre penalty when the French Open got underway yesterday.

The 22-year-old Hampshire golfer, aiming to win the £290,000 first prize, shrugged off the effects of a heavy cold to post a first round score of 68 - four under for the Le Golf National and good enough to lift him into a tie for eighth place.

Rose was today looking to close up on some unfamiliar faces at the top of the leaderboard like French amateur Eric Chaudouet and Belgian No 2 Nicolas Colsaerts who led with 66s.

Philip Golding from Sussex made up a three-way tie for first place but Rose was happy enough to have them all in his sights after an indifferent start.

Playing the back nine first, he dropped shots at the 12th and 17th.

On the latter hole he was penalised one stroke after stepping on the ball. "That's the first time I've ever done that," he admitted.

But birdies at 15, 16 and 18 sent his spirits soaring and, from there on, the youngster from Fleet picked up three more shots to move into a menacing position.

Gary Emerson has happy memories of Paris, having achieved his best European Tour result there two years ago, fourth in the Lancome Trophy.

At two under through nine holes, the Paris romance lingered on for the Salisbury man, who is fighting to keep his card.

But by the time he got back to the clubhouse, Emerson had come crashing back to earth with a couple of double bogeys and a round of 73, one over par.

His problems started with a six at the first to take him back to level par after he'd birdied the tenth and the 14th.

The Broadstone pro, down at 156th in the rankings, fought back with two more birdies but three more shots slipped away, including another six at the 377-yard seventh, and Emerson finished up in 96th place.

Stoneham's Richard Bland opened with eight straight pars before moving his score on to three under, good enough for 14th place before a triple bogey eight at the ninth, his last hole, sent him crashing back to 69th.

Another Hampshire hope, Matt Blackey, also got to three under before bogeying his 11th hole. He end with a one-under-par 71.