DP World Tour: Spanish Open Leaderboard
Matthieu Pavon went one better than last year as a 63 handed him a one-shot lead after the opening round of the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.
Last season's Thursday 64 helped the Frenchman finish second behind Jon Rahm and he will be hoping to go one better again on Sunday as he looks for a first DP World Tour title at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
His eight under score left him one clear of Dutchman Wil Besseling and two ahead of countryman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Portuguese Pedro Figueiredo and England's Eddie Pepperell, all of whom are looking for a strong end to the season to maintain their playing privileges.
Defending champion Rahm - looking for a fourth win in the last five editions of this event - was four shots off the lead after a 67.
A two-time winner on the Alps Tour, Pavon has been a picture of consistency since finishing second three times on the European Challenge Tour in 2016 to earn his card, with last season's second place in Spain the third of his DP World Tour career.
He already has five top tens on Tour this season - including at last week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship - but revealed a second-placed finish on home soil at the Open d'Arcachon during Ryder Cup week could be the key to him potentially breaking his duck on Sunday.
"The confidence is back from a small tournament I played in France," he said. "That was a local tournament and I changed my driver, changed my putter, kind of freshened everything a little bit and I finished second over there.
"I brought that to the Dunhill and finished sixth so lots of positives from the last three weeks and I'm trying to just build on it.
"Last year I had a great finish here so I just kept trying to bring back all the souvenirs from that a little bit and it really helped me today.
"I feel pretty good. I hit a lot of great shots and from tee to green I was really solid. The putter was also great and overall I was amazed by the play I had today."
Pepperell had an eagle and a bogey in his 65 with five birdies, while Lorenzo-Vera and Figueredo each dropped a single shot.
Englishmen Ross Fisher and Nathan Kimsey, South Africans Deon Germishuys and Zander Lombard, Spaniard Victor Garcia Broto, Scot Calum Hill, Frenchman Romain Langasque, Dutchman Joost Luiten, Finn Tapio Pulkkanen, India's Shubhankar Sharma and German Marcel Siem were all three shots off the lead.
Defending champion Jon Rahm -4 67...
edit ****
Canada's lone representative on the DP World Tour Aaron Cockerill had a nice return to form after a weekend off from St Andrews with 6 birdies, 3 bogey's all the rest pars out early -3 T24 68..
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus edit)
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