DP World Tour : Spanish Open Tee Times Weather Leaderboard
Ugo Coussaud gave himself a perfect birthday present by ensuring he will wake up on Friday sharing the lead in the 2025 Open de España presented by Madrid.
The Frenchman, on his final day as a 32-year-old, shot 65 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid and was out on his own until Sam Bairstow matched that score with almost the final shot of Thursday's play.
They were one shot ahead of Frederic Lacroix, Marco Penge and Bernd Wiesberger.
Coussaud's round featured eagles at the 14th, thanks to a 20-foot putt, and the fourth.
Starting from the tenth, he responded to a dropped shot at the 12th with the first of those eagles and then a birdie at the par-three 17th for an outward nine of 33.
He birdied the third and immediately put a second eagle on his card and, despite a bogey at the sixth, he bounced back with two successive birdies - the last coming via a stunning escape from trees down the left of the eighth.
"It was a great day," he said. "Many, many great shots close to the pin - especially on the two par-fives, and I made the two good putts - so just a great day.
"I had a few bad shots as well but I recovered quite nicely so I'm very happy with today."
Bairstow also eagled the fourth in an otherwise quiet front nine before his round burst dramatically into life at the ninth.
The English left-hander had only two more pars from that point forward, alternating birdies and bogeys from the ninth to the 12th and then birdieing four of his last five holes to join Coussaud on -6
"I think coming in, the focus was on getting finished because of the dark so to finish with a few birdies there was great," Bairstow said. "I played here for the first time last year and I loved it. The last few weeks are great for the English and the European lads because they're all close to home, they're all good events".
Angel Ayora was the leading Spaniard, the 21-year-old on -4 67 with the highlight of his round a tap-in eagle at the seventh. He was alongside Grant Forrest, Alexander Levy, Dan Bradbury and Aaron Cockerill.
edit >> Cockerill, the lone Canadian on Tour is one of the players around the top 100 who will retain their cards, so at #119 his opening 5 birdie, one bogey -4 67 puts him in contention for what could be his first win, or a much needed top 10 finish.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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