Andrea Pavan shares the first round lead at the Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna after carding a seven under par 64.
Related: Guido Migliozzi holds nerve to win KLM Open
The two-time DP World Tour winner is playing in his home national open for the 13th time, and arrived at Adriatic Golf Club Cervia in good form having finished fourth at last week’s KLM Open.
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Pavan regained his DP World Tour card for 2024 after finishing eighth on the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca last season, and is going in search of his first win on Tour since the 2019 BMW International Open.
The home favourite got off to a hot start with four birdies on his front nine and made three further gains coming home in a bogey-free opening round. He is joined at the top of the leaderboard by Denmark’s Sebastian Friedrichsen and Gunner Wiebe of the United States. Wiebe was also bogey free, while Friedrichsen carded eight birdies and a bogey in his seven under par round.
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Malaysia’s Gavin Green shares fourth on six under par with Marcus Kinhult, who was runner-up at the KLM Open, while the Italian Francesco Laporta shares fifth on five under with the Spanish pair of Adri Arnaus and Adrian Otaegui, Aaron Cockerill of Canada, American Sean Crocker and Frenchman Ugo Coussaud.
Player Quotes
Andrea Pavan: “You try (and carry momentum). In this game, it’s tough but you just try your best and sometimes you’re playing well and can carry on. Sometimes you get the most out of your game, but every week is different.
“I haven’t played here in a long time, so I felt like I didn’t really know the course. But today was good, I played very well. I was in position and hit it close. The course isn’t very long but you still have to play well.”
Sebastian Friedrichsen: “I was just solid. Kept it in play off the tee and I hit lots of good approach and wedge shots. That teamed up with the putter, so it was pretty simple.
“I feel like my game has been pretty solid for a long time. I haven’t really put a whole tournament together. I’ll take one shot at a time and see how it goes.”
Gunner Wiebe: “It started out a bit scrappy, I missed a couple of greens early. But I made two nice up and downs, so I settled in. Then from there it was pretty boring. I hit a ton of fairways and a ton of greens. I had two hot stretches. I birdied four in a row on the front and three out of my last four on the back. Just being a patient and hopefully get on one of those runs.”
