Eric Ramsay best of Scots in jt 41st place

Iron Man Cixous makes early running

in Challenge Tour event in Belgium


From Paul Symes, Challenge Tour Press Officer
England’s David Horsey is one of three players in hot pursuit of leader and self-styled “Iron Man” Jean Pierre Cixous of France after day one of the Telenet Trophy on the European Challenge Tour.
With torrential rain making for sometimes treacherous playing conditions at Houthalen Golf and Country Club in Limburg, Belgium, Horsey’s round of 67 – for a share of second place on five under par with compatriot Andrew Butterfield and Italy’s Michele Reale – was mightily impressive.
A bogey on the par-3 third hole, courtesy of a fluffed chip, was the only blot on an otherwise flawless copybook. But having led after the first day of last week’s SK Golf Challenge in Finland only to subsequently drop out of contention, Horsey is refusing to get carried away with his exploits.
He said: “It’s obviously a good start, but I won’t be getting ahead of myself. It’s no use playing well here and there – I’ve got to be more consistent and put it together over four rounds. But we’re getting there.
"I was pretty pleased with 67 today, particularly in those conditions. It was raining fairly steadily, then on about the 13th hole, the heavens opened and it started bucketing down. So from then on it just was a case of trying to make pars, and luckily enough I managed to do that.”
Cixous, who took three years out of the game to concentrate on his passion for triathlons, leads the way after a flawless round off 66, which featured six birdies.
Compared to the two “Iron Man” events he competed in – which involve a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride, and a 42km marathon, and take about “five or six weeks” to recover from – 18 holes of golf must have seemed like a walk in the park.
Cixous, who only arrived in Belgium yesterday after missing out on qualification for the Open de France ALSTOM, said: “I haven’t played on the Challenge Tour for about six weeks now, mainly because I couldn’t afford the travelling. But I played at the French Open qualifying, and even though I missed out, I still played quite well. I only arrived yesterday, so today was my practice round – hopefully, things can only get better!”
The eight Scots in the field could not go the pace. Eric Ramsay from Carnoustie was the best of the bunch with a 71 which gave him a share of 41st place.

LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 72
66 J P Cixous.
67 A Butterfield (Eng), M Reale (Ita), D Horsey (Eng).
68 G Greese (Bel), P Dwyer, H Rey (Arg), M D Smith (Eng).
69 R Coles (Eng), T Cruz (Por), L De Jager (RSA), B Evans (Eng), S Saavedra (Arg), J Clement (Sui), A Rocha (Bra), A Mellor (Eng), L Brovold (Nor), W Besseling (Ned), A Wagner (Arg).
Scots' scores:
71 Eric Ramsay (jt 41st).
72 Lee Harper, Edward Thomson (jt 63rd).
73 George Murray (jt 80th).
74 Scott Henderson, Greig Hutcheon, Raymond Russell (jt 98th).
75 Scott Jamieson (jt 118th of 156).