Robin Williams shot a brilliant bogey-free round of 65 to take a share of the lead after round one of the Turkish Airlines Open.
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The 23-year-old South African teed off in the last group at Regnum Carya, and knew what he had to do, with Germany’s Tiger Christensen and Martin Couvra of France setting the target at six under par from the morning wave.
Teeing off from the 11th, Williams got off to a fast start with three birdies in a row from the 12th. He added two more gains at the 18th and third before joining Christensen and Couvra with a birdie at the 9th, his 17th, admitting he felt relief at starting the European Swing strongly after making only five cuts so far in a slow start to the season.
Couvra was the first to reach the summit, with the 22-year-old HotelPlanner Tour graduate, who also started from the 11th, birdieing the par five 15th, before a spectacular hole out from a bunker at the 18th kicked off a hat-trick of gains.
After birdies from 14 feet at the first and seven feet at the second, Couvra produced a superb approach to the fifth for a tap-in gain before his only blemish of the day following a three-putt at the next was cancelled out by birdies at the eighth and ninth.
Tiger Christensen utilised the “good pressure” of being handed a DP World Tour start to join Couvra on six under par at the Antalya venue.
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The 21-year-old, who predominantly plies his trade on the HotelPlanner Tour, was one over for his first six holes and level par through nine, before a hole out from the fringe at the tenth sparked a run of six consecutive birdies.
Player quotes
Robin Williams: It was great today. I played really, really solid. Bogey-free, I didn’t have any faults out there, I didn’t put myself out of position or anything, which is very easy to do it on this course.
But on the back nine, it was so peaceful out there. There really wasn’t any wind. It was like we were playing a practice out there, me and my dad just enjoying ourselves.
It was good to get off to a good start, I haven’t done that well this year, so always good to get off to a good start and then use that momentum going forward. I made some really nice putts today, which kept the momentum, and just kept me feeling free.
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It feels more of a relief than anything (starting well). I didn’t get off to a great start at the beginning of the season, missed a lot of cuts and really struggled with the game. But the three weeks after Singapore kind of worked on a few things with my dad that we didn’t really get time to in the off season, and played so many events last year. You don’t really know if it’s going to click until it happens, and then today it did. It’s more a relief to know that we’re heading in the right direction, but it’s a long way to go.
Tiger Christensen: I think we had a good game plan, stayed patient all day. I played pretty good on the front nine but just happened to not really get it close enough to the hole, where the putts will drop.
And then, yeah, I made a good one from the fringe on 10 and it kind of got going and then hit it really close on 11. From there, hit a really good tee shot on the par 5, and you got a couple birdie holes up there and then took advantage of the last par 5 as well to make it 6 (under).
I feel good pressure. I definitely enjoy these tournaments a lot. I think, bouncing around from HotelPlanner Tour to here. It’s always a lot of fun when we come out here and get the opportunity to play very thankful.
Martin Couvra: Pretty happy about this first round, I played well all day. Just kept smiling on the course, and that’s it.
I love this place. You have to be good tee to green, that’s the biggest strength of my game. You need to keep the ball on the fairway and hit some good irons.
My game is pretty good and my confidence too. I just try to keep a good mindset on the golf course.
