Sam Jones celebrated a career-first albatross as he secured a two-shot lead after round one of the Soudal Open with an incredible late burst of scoring.
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The New Zealander, competing in his rookie season on the DP World Tour, recorded three birdies in a row from the 14th to race into contention at Rinkven International Golf Club. But he saved the best for the par five 17th, holing his second shot with a three wood from 248 metres to get to nine under par.
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With preferred lies in place for the first two rounds his round of 62 will not go into the record books, but it was enough to edge ahead of English pair Matthew Jordan and Andrew Wilson, Dane Niklas Nørgaard, Romain Langasque of France and Spain’s Nacho Elvira, who signed for seven under par rounds of 64 in the opening event of the European Swing.
Jones, who earned his DP World Tour card through Qualifying School last year, arrived in Belgium on the back of missed cuts in four of his last five starts. But having secured his card just two weeks after turning professional, he is eyeing a debut win around the tree-lined layout after the first albatross of the DP World Tour season in his tournament-low back nine of 28.
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Scot Connor Syme is three shots off the lead at six under par with England’s Alex Fitzpatrick and his countryman and former Ryder Cup player Ross Fisher amongst a group of seven players one shot further back.
Another former Ryder Cup player, Thomas Pieters, is the leading Belgian, signing for a 67 to sit alongside a further 11 other players at four under.
Player Quotes
Sam Jones: Initially it was going to be a three-shot, was going to lay it up (on 17). Thought about three iron off the tee, hit three wood, pulled it a little bit but hit in nicely. Got up there, had 248m to the flag, said to my caddie Keith that it was the perfect three wood, into the breeze a little bit.
I was going well already at that stage so I thought if I made a bogey it was no big deal. Just hit it, flushed it, called to it to be good in the air and it was. First ever albatross, not a bad place to do it.
The condition of the course is similar to back home, the greens are pretty much the same. It’s a little bit tighter – back home you can blast it out onto other fairways and come back over, on this one you can’t. You just have to keep it in front of you, keep it between the trees, and go from there.
I’m taking it as it comes (first year as a professional). The first few months have been pretty good, golf has been average but it’s been pretty good the last few weeks. I’m looking forward to getting into this European Swing.
Nacho Elvira: It was brilliant, I’m very happy. I hit the ball well, I putted well, I hit it close and made the putts. I did everything well today.
I hit three shots close to the pin (for three closing birdies) and was lucky enough to make the putts. I started strong, finished strong, so overall a good day.
I’ve played here four or five times at least, I enjoy coming here. Antwerp is a great city, the course is fantastic, it suits my eye. It’s tree-lined so it helps me to shape the ball better. I feel comfortable, I like where my game is at the moment and hopefully I can keep it up.
Romain Langasque: It was a good start. Played very solid on the front nine. The front nine is very tricky, but if you hit the fairways short you can have some opportunities. This is what I did – I found most of the fairways and my iron game was very solid.
The birdie on eight was a tap-in, the birdie on nine a tap-in also. Just the three-putt on 11 was a bit tough, but I made two good putts following that.
Such a good round to start. I’ve had a few good rounds in the last months, so happy to have one more. Now I know there are three more days in front of me to keep up.
