Ivan Cantero boosted his chances of securing his DP World Tour card for 2025 with an opening 66 to hold a one-shot lead at the Genesis Championship.
Related: Guerrier survives nine-hole playoff for first DP World Tour win
The final tournament of the Back 9 will determine who will retain their playing rights for next year, with the top 114 after the event slated to keep their card.
The Spaniard began the week on the bubble in 117th place, but he rolled in seven birdies and dropped a solitary shot to set the pace at six under par at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.
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Cantero needed a fast start in Incheon and he obliged with a stunning approach to three feet at the first to immediately get into the red numbers.
He was two under through three when taking advantage of the par-five third and continued his momentum with back-to-back birdies from the sixth.
The World Number 454 reached the turn in 31 thanks to a fifth birdie at the ninth and when he followed that up with an 11-foot effort at the tenth, he was at six under.
Cantero blotted his scorecard when he dropped his only shot at the 16th, but he responded in style by landing his tee-shot at the par-three 17th within six feet to return to six under and set the clubhouse lead.
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Home duo Byeong Hun An and Hongtaek Kim, Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat, South Africa’s Casey Jarvis, Scotland’s Scott Jamieson, Swede Jonas Blixt and Englishman Richard Mansell sit one adrift, with a further ten players at four under.
Those players include defending champion Pablo Larrazábal and fellow Spaniards Alejandro Del Rey and Manuel Elvira, Korean pair Tom Kim and Seunghyuk Kim, New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier, Italian Renato Paratore, Dane Søren Kjeldsen, Germany’s Marcel Schneider and Englishman Todd Clements.
Play was suspended with six players, including Blixt, yet to complete their opening rounds.
Player quotes
Ivan Cantero: Obviously I need a good week or I am out of the the main Tour, but I have one more week, one more chance and my game is good condition. I hit good drivers and with this course, if you are in good position, it is possible to have a good score.
I think no difference. Today I made putts and the last couple of weeks I missed a lot of putts and my confidence was down all the time, and now I am confident with my putting and my driver.
Of course playing with Pablo (Larrazabal) is always good, he gave me a lot of advice on the golf course and I am very happy.
Byeong Hun An: It was special, I played pretty good. So iffy swings, I maybe had two of those, but other than that I hit a lot of fairways and hit some great shots, so quite happy with five under.
It was pretty tricky, it has a generous fairway but the course was very soft so the ball is not flying as far, it just has very tricky greens, so you need to play the right shots and be really accurate. I feel I did that pretty good for 16 holes, apart for two of them, but I feel it is a second shot golf course.
I feel like you feel where you are at. Three years ago I was 300th player in the world and now I feel like I am the top 30,40 players in the world. I didn’t do much different, I had a bit of a swing change, which is always a hard kind of spell and I had a few iffy swings here and there, and I have worked pretty hard.
I’m sure there are guys who have worked harder than me but compared to ten years ago, I feel like I am working it harder and taking care of myself a bit better, and everything is coming along. I had a pretty decent year last year, and this year has been my best year so far in my career, so hopefully I can get a little bit better next year.
