Marco Penge is part of a five-way tie for the first round lead at the BMW International Open at Golfclub München Eichenried.
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The Englishman bounced back from a double bogey at the par five 18th – his ninth – with a four under par closing nine to sign for a five under par 67 and set the target on another hot day in Munich. He was later joined at the top of the leaderboard by Malaysia’s Gavin Green, Dutchman Darius van Driel, Ugo Coussaud, of France, and China’s Wenyi Ding.
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Penge, who won his maiden title at the Hainan Classic earlier this year, mixed a bogey and a double bogey with eight birdies, including one to finish at the par five ninth, to make a solid start to the final event of the European Swing on the Race to Dubai.
Malaysian Green was the first man to join him at the top, carding only one blemish in his round of 67, while Ding dropped back-to-back shots after the turn, but rallied to finish with four birdies in his final five holes.
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As the day came to a close, playing partners Coussaud and van Driel made the leading trio a quintet as they each birdied the ninth, their final hole, with the Frenchman putting the finishing touches to an impressive bogey-free round.
Six players are a shot further back in a tie for sixth, including English trio Nathan Kimsey, Richard Mansell and Jordan Smith, Scotland’s Scott Jamieson, Frenchman David Ravetto, and Japan’s Yuto Katsuragawa.
A total of 16 eagles were carded during round one of the BMW International Open, resulting in €16,000 being raised for BMW’s Eagles for Education campaign.
Player quotes
Marco Penge: I obviously had a great start starting birdie-birdie on ten and 11. I felt pretty in control of my game. When I birdied 16, parred 17, I thought I’ve got some good chances coming up, especially with 18 being one of the easiest holes on the course, but seven there didn’t help the day, but it’s one of those things. Hit it in the water off the tee and made a bit of a mess of it, but played great on the back nine, it was really steady.
Gavin Green: I had a pretty good day off the tee and pretty good irons on the tough holes. Made it a little easier on myself, hit the fairways, hit the greens. Two-putted, made a few putts early on which kind of kickstarted the round. Had a couple wedge shots in the middle that were horrendous, but it’s a give-and-take kind of game.
