Staff WriterThe German Challenge at Wittelsbacher Golfclub opened with a delightful surprise—and a double helping of seven-under-par.
Julien Quesne and Tomás Bessa topped the leaderboard after Thursday’s first round, each carding 65 to take a slender one-shot lead in Bavaria’s punishing summer heat and occasionally moodier rough.
Now, the German Challenge may not yet carry the cachet of Carnoustie or the fanfare of Augusta, but you wouldn’t know it from the quality on show.
With a leaderboard tighter than a Scotsman’s wallet, five players—including England’s Tom Lewis and Austria’s Maximilian Steinlechner, the current Road to Mallorca frontrunner—sit just one shot back.
But let’s talk about Quesne. The Frenchman, 44, rolled back the years like a vintage Bordeaux, opening on the tenth and promptly eagling the par-five 15th with all the subtlety of a man who’s done this before.
Four birdies in a blistering five-hole stretch after the turn kept the momentum alive, and while he stumbled with a bogey at six, he closed strong with two more birdies for good measure.
“I’m quite happy with the score because this course is tough,” Quesne admitted. “I played steady and holed putts, that was it.”
But there’s a sentimental twist here—one that even the most cynical of scribes might smile at. Carrying his bag this week is his 12-year-old son, and judging by the grin on dad’s face, it’s been a heart-warmer.
“I’ve got my son who is 12 on the bag this week for the first time, so I think that helped. I’m very proud of him and hopefully he has seen me play very well today.”
It’s not all nostalgia and sentiment though. This is a man who’s had three back surgeries and still chooses to walk 18 holes with intent, fire, and a child in tow. “I’ve been a professional since 2003,” he said, “so I had some good years on the DP World Tour and I’m still fighting.”
Fighting, indeed. And so is Tomás Bessa.
The Portuguese 28-year-old, playing on a sponsor’s invite, wasn’t shy about his ambitions. With eight birdies and just one bogey, Bessa matched Quesne’s 65 with a blend of finesse and occasional fortune.
He flew out the gates with three birdies in his opening four holes, gave one back at the eighth, then birdied four times on the back nine—including back-to-back jabs at 15 and 16—to tie the lead.
“It’s crucial that with these invites, you go all out and hopefully you can play your best golf during those four days,” Bessa said. “I’m looking forward to trying to do that over the next three days now.”
You’d never know this was just his second start on the 2025 Road to Mallorca. Calm, methodical, and appreciative of a lucky bounce or two, Bessa knows he has to make it count.
“I had a couple of good breaks when I didn’t hit the perfect shot which allowed me to save a few pars, and it kept the round going.”
It’s not a layout that forgives laziness either. “It’s a very demanding course off the tee,” Bessa added, “and you’ve got to place the ball really well.”
Behind them, the chasing pack includes a cosmopolitan mix of talents—Chilean Gabriel Morgan, Swiss Benjamin Rusch, and France’s Robin Sciot-Siegrist among them.
A further five players—South Africans Bryce Easton and JC Ritchie, Englishmen Joshua Berry and Bradley Bawden, and Italy’s Filippo Celli—are two strokes off the pace at five-under, just waiting for someone to blink.
Round two of the German Challenge resumes tomorrow at 7:25 a.m., with Quesne heading off at 1:40 p.m. and Bessa at 1:45 p.m. Local time.
Expect drama. Expect momentum shifts. And expect at least one proud dad reminding his son how it’s done.
