CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT

Marathon men Thorp and Colombo tied at top

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes

After one of the longest rounds of their careers, Italian Federico Colombo and Norway’s Marius Thorp found themselves on top of the leaderboard on day two of the rain-affected SWALEC Wales Challenge on the European Challenge Tour. Almost 30 hours after hitting their first tee shots on Wednesday morning, the duo were signing for respective rounds of 68 to grab a share of the lead at the Vale Hotel, Golf and Spa Resort near Cardiff.

Unlike Thorp, Colombo is set to miss out on the lucrative Kazakhstan Open in two weeks’ time, as the Italian is currently outside the top 100 in the Rankings. Only victory this week or next would secure him a place in the €400,000 event, and the 22 year old made a solid start with seven birdies and three bogeys.
He said: “My long game has been in good shape for a while now, it’s only really on the greens that I’ve struggled. But hopefully I’ve turned it around now. It’s obviously still going to be tough to get into Kazakhstan, but I’ve got to give it everything because I don’t want to miss out on such an important week – especially when I’m playing well.”
Thorp’s recent form is equally impressive, with four runner-up finishes in his last eight Challenge Tour appearances moving him to 17th place in the Rankings, and on course to earn a European Tour card for the first time. Despite playing 15 holes in almost incessant rain yesterday, remarkably the 22 year old managed to avoid any bogeys – the only player in the entire field to do so.
Thorp was joined near the top of the leaderboard by two fellow Scandinavians, Oscar Floren and Andreas Högberg, both of whom shot three under par rounds of 69.
Floren is in fine form of late having finished runner up at last week’s ECCO Tour Championship, where he still received the winner’s cheque because the champion Andreas Hartø is an amateur and therefore ineligible to claim any prize money. The €28,800 moved Floren up to fourth place in the Rankings, and the Swede is now looking to cement his place in the top ten with a strong finish to the season.
His compatriot Högberg has less lofty ambitions, having struggled to make much of an impression this season. The Swede is still determined to make his way onto The European Tour, but feels that the Qualifying School is now a more realistic route of gaining a place on The European Tour.
Michiel Bothma and Stuart Davis made it a five-way tie for third place after both men compiled rounds of 69. The South African notched seven birdies but gave back four shots in the worst of the conditions yesterday, whilst Davis posted four birdies in his round of 69, with the only blemish of the day coming at the par five 12th hole.
The leading Welshmen were qualifier Matt Dearden and young amateur Chris Nugent, who in fast-fading light posted a highly creditable round of 71 to join Dearden in a share of 14th place.
With almost an entire day having been lost to rain, the second round will start at 7.30am on Friday morning.
SCOTSWATCH. Five Scots in the top 26 is a promising start for the Tartan Army and isn't good to see Lloyd Saltman where he belongs - near the top of the scoreboard. Lloyd had a two-under-par 70 to be joint seventh going into the second round.
Backing up the Lothians man, a shot behind on 71, are Scott Jamieson, Raymond Russell, Chris Doak and Jack Doherty.
Sad to see that Eric Ramsay after a brief blaze of glory last week has gone back into the doldrums and he is unlikely to beat the cut after a first round of 81.FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
68 M Thorp (Nor) , F Colombo (Ita) ,
69 O Floren (Swe) , S Davis (Eng) , A Högberg (Swe) , M Bothma (S Africa) ,
70 C Baker (USA) , D Denison (Eng) , L Saltman (Sco) , A Gee (Eng) , M McGeady (Irl) , L Claverie (Esp) , L Gagli (Ita) ,
71 S Jamieson (Sco) , R Russell (Sco) , M Zions (Aus) , S Wakefield (Eng) , T Remkes (Ned) , J Sjöholm (Swe) , M Dearden (Wal) , M Quiros (Esp) , C Doak (Sco), J Doherty (Sco), P Relecom (Bel), D Whitnell (Eng) , C Nugent (am) (Wal) 
72 D Perrier (Fra) , J Xanthopoulos (Fra) , J Little (Eng) , J Axgren (Swe) , S Buhl (Ger) , M Watson (Eng) , J Legarrea (Esp) , V Riu (Fra) , M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , S Lewton (Eng) , F Henge (Swe) , A Johnston (Eng) , G Houston (Wal) , C Smith (Wal) , B Mason (Eng) , N James (am) (Wal)
73 P Gustafsson (Swe) , T Olesen (Den) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , O Whiteley (Eng) , D Brooks (Eng) , S Tiley (Eng) , P Eales (Eng) , N Cheetham (Eng) , D Griffiths (Eng) , S Surry (Eng) , J Elson (Eng) , A Kaleka (Fra) , M Tottey (Wal) , B Ritthammer (Ger) 
74 W Ormsby (Aus) , L Slattery (Eng) , T Stewart (Aus) , D Gaunt (Aus) , B Grace (RSA) , L Matthews (Wal) , E Saltman (Sco) , W Besseling (Ned) , G Molteni (Ita) , M Cort (Eng) , J Campillo (Esp) , S Whiffin (Eng) , L Kennedy (Eng) , P Dwyer (Eng) , F De Vries (Ned) , C Cowper (Eng) , S Manley (Wal) , M Ford (Eng) , A Bossert (Sui) , M Higley (Eng) , P Golding (Eng) , S Piaget (Mon) , M Tullo (Chi) ,
75 B Etchart (Esp) , A Snobeck (Fra) , P Doherty (Sco) , M Laskey (Wal) , B Wiesberger (Aut) , J Zapata (Arg) , J Moul (Eng) , J Grillon (Fra) , A Perrino (Ita) , M Pilkington (Wal) , R Santos (Por) , F Praegant (Aut) , L Brovold (Nor) , C Ford (Eng)
76 A Wagner (Arg) , M Baldwin (Eng) , T Haylock (Eng) , J Maurer (Aut) , C Moriarty (Irl) , I Brown (Eng) , I Van Weerelt (Ned) , I Griffiths (Wal) , A Hansen (Den) , M Sell (Eng) , N Meitinger (Ger) , A Willey (Eng) , N Redfern (Eng), J McLeary (Sco), K Sullivan (Wal) , C Brazillier (Fra) , A Bernadet (Fra), R Enoch (am) (Wal) 
77 R Kind (Ned), I Pyman (Eng) , L Goddard (Eng) , R Blaum (USA) , C Del Moral (Esp), M Cobo (Esp) , S Ottosen (Den) , J Makitalo (Fin) , B Evans (Eng) , J Frazer (am) (Wal)
78 A Signor (Ita) , M Soffietti (Ita) , K Eriksson (Swe) , J Levermore (Eng) , G Rosier (Fra) , J Colomo (Esp) , L James (Eng) , G Shaw (Nir) , P Kaensche (Nor) , J Vickery (am) (Wal)
79 T Dykes (Wal) , L Bond (Wal) , A Tadini (Ita) , J Ruth (Eng) , L Moolman (RSA) , A Mellor (Eng), A Ahokas (Fin) 
80 R Brookman (Wal), M Carlsson (Swe) , C Mills (Wal) , A Sjöstrand (Swe) , L Jensen (Den), S Doherty (Eng), S Lilly (Eng) 
81 M Haines (Eng), A Williams (Wal), E Ramsay (Sco) , C O'Carroll (Wal) , O Farr (am) (Wal)
82 R Thomas (Wal), S Reale (Ita)