DP World Tour : Genesis Scottish Open Leaderboard Tee Times Weather
Nico Echavarria, Jake Knapp, Sepp Straka and Victor Perez could not be separated as they held a one-shot lead at the Genesis Scottish Open.
There was slight wind off the East Lothian coastal course on Thursday, but the high quality field made light work to create a logjammed leaderboard at the Renaissance Club in the second Rolex Series event of the season.
Colombian Echavarria was the first player in the clubhouse house at -6 before American Knapp and Austria's Straka joined him with their respective 64s.
Frenchman Perez was the only afternoon starter to reach that mark, with 28 players sitting within three shots of the leading quartet after 18 holes.
"It's Thursday. You can enjoy seeing yourself up on the leaderboard," Echavarria said. "Overall, it was fun. Our group played very well.
"It's good when your playing partner is playing good so you can see how there's a lot of birdies out there."
Knapp the young American made a rapid start in North Berwick, holing birdies from five feet at the first and third before a brilliant 45-foot effort at the fourth saw him move to -3.
"Definitely can't complain," Knapp said. "I think it tests a little bit of everything and obviously you can hit what you think is a decent shot and it can bounce somewhere and go somewhere funky. So you have to be able to roll with the punches."
European Ryder Cup winner Straka made his bid for a maiden Rolex Series title by birdieing his first two holes at the tenth and 11th.
The Austrian sat two off the lead with another two, from the 15th and it soon got better for the World Number Ten. He improved his score with birdies at the third and fourth, and when he rolled from 13 feet to complete the hat-trick of birdies at the fifth, he was the outright leader at -7
However, Straka bogeyed his next two holes to slip one back, only to chip in at the eighth - his penultimate hole - to card his 64.
He said: "It's a little bit unpredictable and it puts you in spots where you may be a little bit uncomfortable, and you hit shots that you normally wouldn't hit. I think that's what makes it the most fun."
Perez has not been in the winner's enclosure since winning the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championships in 2023, but home comforts seemed to help the Dundee-based golfer. He lives with a Scottish dental student from Dundee, Abigail Gliksten
The 32-year-old picked up shots at the 14th, 15th and 16th before holing from 25 feet at the last to get to -6
"I've always kind of enjoyed keeping the ball down and long putts from off the green," Perez said. "I think it may play in my hand a little bit better with what I'm good at. So, yeah, enjoyed a very good first day, but a lot of golf left."
Calum Hill led the Scottish challenge, sitting one adrift at -5 of the leaders alongside German pair Marcel Siem and Matti Schmid and Englishman Marco Penge.
Norway's Viktor Hovland carded his first flawless round at this event to sit with South Korean Tom Kim, New Zealand's Ryan Fox and American duo Wyndham Clark and Keith Mithell in a share for ninth at -4
edit **** Nick Taylor and Taylor Pendrith lead the Canadian contingent at -3 67, next is Mac Hughes -2 68. Corey Conners got in at E 70 and then Aaron Cockerill the DP World Tour regular is at +3 73.
The cut is projected at -1.
Rory McIlroy made bogey 5 on his opening hole, ending up out in E 35, and with a bogey at the 15th it was looking like a dull start to his week, however 3 straight closing birdies gave the crowd something to cheer about, in at -2 68.
The European broadcast team Sam Torrance and Dominik Holyer were left to apologize for the profane language of the man they were calling "the world's best golfer" Scott Scheffler who despite his #1 status had some trouble reading the speed and slopes of the seaside greens of the Renaissance Club. He is in at -3 67 none the less.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
No comments:
Post a Comment