Matt Wallace has continued where he left off last weekend by shooting a five-under-par 66 in the first round of Le Vaudreil Golf Challenge.

Fresh from firing back-to-back rounds of 65 to storm up the leaderboard and secure his first top-ten Challenge Tour finish at the Challenge de Espana last weekend, the Moor Park golfer is currently in a tie for sixth, three shots behind leader Sebastian Heisele from Germany.

The 26-year-old finished a strong front nine in a four-under-par 31 following birdies at four, six, eight and nine.

The only dropped shot of his opening 18 holes came on the 11th, but he retrieved that shot on the 13th before completing his round with a sixth birdie of the day on 18.

Wallace has already made history this year by winning the last five Alps Tour tournaments he has competed in and he was delighted to secure his highest career finish to date with a share of ninth at La Gromera in the Canary Islands.

“It’s huge to back up my run of form into the Challenge Tour from the Alps Tour,” he said earlier this week. “It’s difficult to compare the two tours or even the European Tour but to have competed on the main stage and to make the cut at my first event [the Nordea Masters] gave me belief.”

The Pinner-based professional was some way off the pace after rounds of 67 and 69 at the Challenge de Espana, but he picked up 12 shots in his last two rounds to finish on 18-under.

“After not playing so great in Slovakia [in his previous Challenge Tour event], I thought with it being my seventh week in a row the amount of golf was catching up with me,” Wallace admitted. “It showed again in my first two rounds but after having a chat with my parents and the relief of making the cut I just tried to relax and make as many birdies as possible.

“I played nicely the first two days but with a few really loose shots that I hadn’t being doing before and they cost me dearly. Mentally I must not have concentrated hard enough on those shots.

“Each week is roughly 288 shots or lower so you can see that it can catch up with you every once in a while after a few weeks in a row. But [I was] very happy with my weekend’s play and my first top ten.”