JACK DOHERTY LEADS SCOTS WITH A 68 IN COLOMBIA

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes
Rafael Gomez, a two-time Challenge Tour champion, set the clubhouse target on six under par on the opening day of the Abierto Internacional Cope Antioquia, the second event of the 2011 season.
Jack Doherty, pictured right, on three-under-par 68 and lying joint ninth, is the best placed of the four Scots in the field. Craig Lee had a 70, Jamie McLeary a 73 and Gavin Dear a 75.
The Argentine, who won twice in 2005 en route to graduating to The European Tour, collected seven birdies and a solitary bogey in his round of 65 to edge ahead of the field on an overcast day at Club Campestre La Macarena near Medellin, in Colombia.
The Colombian duo of Alvaro Pinedo and José Manuel Garrido, Argentina’s Pablo del Grosso and American Will Wilcox all shot five under par rounds of 66 to lie one stroke behind the leader with another pair from the home nation, Alvaro Jose Arizabaleta and Santiago Rivas, a further shot back on four under par alongside Sweden’s Peter Gustafsson.
Gustafsson, the leading European in the event co-sanctioned with the Tour de las Americas (TLA), boasts a particularly impressive record in this tournament, winning the title in 2009 before it formed part of the Challenge Tour Schedule and finishing in fourth place last year. Gustafsson’s round of 67 featured six birdies and two bogeys.
Starting at the tenth hole Gomez, a winner of a record eight TLA titles, notched a hat-trick of birdies from the 12^th before his momentum was temporarily halted by a bogey on the 15^th. But the 43 year old reignited his round on his back nine with another burst of three successive birdies from the third hole, before taking the outright lead with another gain at the par five eighth.
He said: “I sank a lot of putts – that made the difference for me today. Because the greens here are quite small, you really have to make a lot of putts on this course, and luckily for me I managed to do that today. I’m also striking the ball nicely and feeling very confident at the moment. If I keep sinking the putts, hopefully I can remain on top.”
Garrido, a two-time winner on the TLA, also enjoyed a productive afternoon on the greens. He said: “After shooting one under par on my front nine, which should have been lower, I had the feeling that the round was slipping away from me. But then I hit a great shot into the first hole and made birdie, and even though I didn’t birdie the second, which is a tough hole, I still played it well so those two holes gave me a lot of confidence and after that I knew it would be a good day. I played very well on my back nine, didn’t make any bogeys and made a lot of good putts. So it was a very good start.”
Wilcox is playing his first Challenge Tour event after competing predominantly on the Canadian and Hooters Tours, but after overcoming some initial nerves he flourished – particularly on the greens.
The Alabama resident said: “This is my first tournament in South America but I prepared myself really well for it, and I think that showed in my round today. If I can just keep hitting fairways hopefully I’ll make a few more birdies, because I love the greens here. I grew up playing on Bermuda grass, so I can read the greens and judge the speed quite well.
“You’ve got to work the ball a lot around this course, and I’d like to think I can do that. I’m tending to cut the ball at the moment, but it’s still going where I need it to go. If you can play smart golf round here, you can get your rewards. It’s a great golf course, because you have to hit some good shots to make birdies. I’m just looking forward to the next three rounds now.”
Meanwhile, Colombia’s David Vanegas got his title defence of the title off to a steady start with level par 71.
Players from 25 different nations are represented in the 29th event co-sanctioned by the Challenge Tour and Tour de las Americas, all vying for a prize fund of US$230,000.

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARDPar 71

65 R Gomez (Arg)
66 A Pinedo (Col), J Garrido (Col), W Wilcox (US), P Del Grosso (Arg) 
67 A Arizabaleta (Col), P Gustafsson (Swe), S Rivas (Col)
68 J Doherty (Sco), A Tadini (Ita) , N Kearney (Irl) , A Bernadet (Fra) , D Vanegas (Col), L Dodda (Arg) , M Merizalde (Col) , J Estevez (Arg) 
69 B Evans (Eng) , W Murillo (Ven) , L Giometti (Arg) , B Fritsch (Can) , C Espinoza (Chi) , R Blaum (USA) , V Covello (USA) , E Grillo (am) (Arg) , G Houston (Wal) , A Butterfield (Eng)
70 A Hadwin (Can) , S Davis (Eng) , J Perez (Col) , N Ledesma (Arg) , H Cespedes (Par) , M Garcia (Arg) , O Alvarez (Col) , G Jackson (Eng) , M Delpodio (Ita) , P Archer (Eng) , C Lee (Sco) , D Larrazabal (Ven) , W Besseling (Ned)
71 D Vanegas (Col) , C Monasterio (Arg) , L Marelli (Arg) , J Clavijo (Col) , C Russo (Fra) , M Lundberg (Swe) , M Baldwin (Eng) , A Snobeck (Fra) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , A Adrian (Ven) , S Salem (Per) , A Rodriguez (Arg) , J Hoyos (Col) , D Vancsik (Arg) , G Agudelo (Col) , S Saavedra (Arg) , J Fortlage (Par) , M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) , A Jauretche (Arg) , E Dominguez (Arg) , M Palm (Swe) , M Southgate (Eng) , J Vega (am) (Col)
72 E Dubois (Fra) , J Clément (Sui) , J Osmar (Col) , J Amaya (Col) , N Lemke (Swe) , C Carranza (Arg) , A Velasquez (Col) , R Bescansa (Esp) , J Palmer (Eng) , N Meitinger (Ger) , T Fleetwood (Eng) , D Brooks (Eng) , S Russi (Chi) , M Relancio (Arg) , J Rivas (Col) , S Fernandez (Arg) , M Cryer (Eng) , M Rodriguez (Arg) , A Romero (Col) , M Molina (Arg)
73 R Gonzalez (Arg) , B Gonzalez (Col) , P Salem (Per) , J Heath (Eng) , L Zapata (Col) , D Altamirano (Arg) , E Gomez (Col) , A Perrino (Ita) , I Keenan (Eng) , S Shahi (USA) , J McLeary (Sco) , J Lima (Por) , J Campillo (Esp) , D Denison (Eng) , J Saltaleggio (Arg) , S Diaz (Col) , L Di Marino (Arg) , M Kieffer (Ger) , C Ford (Eng) 
74 L Posada (Col) , R Kind (Ned) , J Habig (USA) , O Beltran (Col) , J Ocampo (Col) , J Colmenares (Col) , S Bebb (Wal) , E Kofstad (Nor) , M Kramer (Ger) , C Serna (Col) , G Acosta (Arg) , A Ahokas (Fin) , H Leon (Chi) , A Canete (Arg) , D Barbetti (Arg) , A Wagner (Arg) , J Robinson (Eng) , B Miarka (Ger) , R Sanz (Ven) , J Luna (Col) , D Tobon (Col) , R Francisco (Bra) , J Quesne (Fra) , P Vasquez (am) (Col) 
75 G Vergara (Col) , P Dwyer (Eng) , P Pinto (Arg) , L Kennedy (Eng) , J Echeverry (Arg) , R Romero (Col) , A Rahut (Col) , F Colombo (Ita) , J Moul (Eng) , C Costilla (Arg) , G Dear (Sco) , S Tobon (am) (Col) , M Cuartas (am) (Col)
76 A Goldberg (US) , E Isasi (Par) , M Hurtado (Col) , A Parr (Can) , M Gomez (Col) , M Ford (Eng) , T Nakamura (Jpn) , A Mawji'S (Eng)
77 R Serna (Col) , S Hutsby (Eng) , J Van Der Vaart (Ned) , O Villada (Col) , S Acevedo (Arg)
78 L Jensen (Den) , O Patino (Col) 
79 T Argonz (Arg) , R Ruiz (Col)
81 P Arroyane (Col)