JACKSON PUTS THE WIND UP HIS CHALLENGE TOUR RIVALS

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes

Grant Jackson defied blustery conditions in the Belgian capital Brussels to charge into the lead on the opening day of the Telenet Trophy on the European Challenge Tour.
The Englishman, who was on the books of rugby league side Castleford Tigers before opting for the more sedate career of a professional golfer, was playing in the first group out at 7.30am, but made light of a 5am alarm call to post a superb five under par round of 67 at Royal Waterloo Golf Club.
Starting on the tenth tee Jackson, who is competing in his first Challenge Tour season after finishing fourth on the Satellite EPD Tour order of merit last year, got off to a slightly sluggish start with a bogey at his second hole, but notched his first birdie of the day at the par three 15th.
Despite dropping a shot at the next he promptly rallied with successive birdies, and after driving the green at the par four second, the 29 year old duly rolled in an eagle putt from 40 feet to move to three under par for the day.
A further birdie on the third promptly followed, and after bogeying the seventh he closed with two birdies to sign for the lowest round of his fledgling Challenge Tour career.
Jackson said: “It was tough out there because the wind was picking up all the time. I holed a few nice putts, including one from off the green on the last and another long one for eagle on the second. It was important to take your chances where you could, because it was damage limitation at times. But overall I’m happy and I’m now looking forward to a bit of a rest, because it was a very early start this morning.
“Sometimes I set my alarm for 6am at home and go to the gym, to try to get used to the early starts. But a 5am wake-up call is never pleasant! But if anything we maybe got the better of the conditions early in the morning, so it was good to take advantage of them and I’m just pleased to get in with a decent score.
“It was good to get a bit of form back, because I’ve been struggling with my game in the last few weeks. I didn’t get into Madeira last week so went to see my coach a couple of times, and between us we managed to sort a few things out. I’d got a little bit off track, but it was good to have a re-focusing session and hopefully now I can keep it going for the next three days and the rest of the season.”
Jackson is currently one stroke clear of South African Branden Grace, Portugal’s Ricardo Santos, Colombian David Vanegas and England’s Oliver Whiteley.
Of the home contingent, it was 2007 champion Nicolas Vanhootegem and Guillaume Watremez who fared the best with rounds of 71, whilst Pierre Relecom delighted the locals with a hole in one at the fourth.
FIRST ROUND

67 G Jackson (Eng)
68 R Santos (Por), B Grace (RSA) , D Vanegas (Col) , O Whiteley (Eng) 

70 A Tampion (Aus) , J Palmer (Eng) , J Garcia (Esp) , S Robinson (Eng) 
71 G Watremez (Bel) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , P Baker (Eng) , D Denison (Eng), M Lundberg (Swe) , A Hansen (Den) , A Canete (Arg) , G Adell (Swe), B Åkesson (Swe) , L Canter (Eng) , D Lokke (Den) , N Vanhootegem (Bel), C Paisley (Eng) , M Warren (Sco) , F Colombo (Ita)
72 C Carranza (Arg) , J Lima (Por) , I Keenan (Eng) , D Vancsik (Arg) , C Mivis (Bel) , M Rominger (Sui) , A Signor (Ita) , G Dear (Sco) , M Baldwin (Eng) , A McArthur (Sco) , A Pavan (Ita) , F Fritsch (Ger) , P Archer (Eng) , C Russo (Fra) , D Wuensche (Ger) 
73 P Golding (Eng) , J Grillon (Fra) , B Hemstock (Eng) , A Bihan (Fra) , J Colomo (Esp) , M Cryer (Eng) , B Miarka (Ger) , J Campillo (Esp) , S Hutsby (Eng) , L Richard (Bel) , M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) , A Haindl (RSA) , G Molteni (Ita) , R De Sousa (Sui) , J Legarrea (Esp) , T Fleetwood (Eng) , M Evans (Eng) , C Van Wassenhove (am) (Bel)
74 C Brazillier (Fra) , J Bragulat (Esp) , B Chapellan (Fra) , G Gresse (Bel) , J Relecom (Bel) , E Bertheussen (Nor) , B Evans (Eng) , G Seegmuller (Bel) , R Kind (Ned) , L Jensen (Den) , C Macaulay (Sco) , P Relecom (Bel) , C Doak (Sco) , A Grenier (Fra) , J Doherty (Sco) , A Tadini (Ita) , X Feyaerts (am) (Bel) , T Detry (am) (Bel)
75 V Riu (Fra) , M Kieffer (Ger) , B Hafthorsson (Isl) , A Snobeck (Fra) , N Lombardi (Ita) , T Sherreard (Eng) , S Davis (Eng) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , S Bebb (Wal) , A Willey (Eng) , P Dwyer (Eng) , M Southgate (Eng) , J Guerrier (Fra) , R Blaum (USA) , A Ahokas (Fin) , J Hepworth (Eng) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , J Van Der Vaart (Ned) , A Butterfield (Eng) , S Little (Eng) ,
76 M Palm (Swe) , N Bertasio (Ita) , B Barham (Eng) , C Lloyd (Eng) , C Ford (Eng) , S Tiley (Eng) , J Moul (Eng) , G Murphy (Irl) , A Domingo (Esp) , A Maestroni (Ita) , E Pepperell (Eng) , J Clément (Sui) , W Besseling (Ned) , S Piaget (Mon) , J Billot (Fra) , A Bernadet (Fra) , E Dubois (Fra) , K Hesbois (am) (Bel)
77 N Lemke (Swe) , G Houston (Wal) , F Svanberg (Sui) , A Perrino (Ita) , J Hansen (Den) , C Moriarty (Irl) , H Bacher (Aut) , A Coltart (Sco), J Roos (RSA) , C Gane (Eng) , J Estevez (Arg) , N Meitinger (Ger) , O David (Fra) 
78 J Lucquin (Fra) , T Mambourg (Bel) , E Kofstad (Nor) , W Schauman (Swe) , J Quesne (Fra) , J Robinson (Eng) , M Cobo (Esp) , M Dam (Den) , I Urquizu (Esp) , P Kaensche (Nor)
79 D De Vooght (Bel) , R Bechu (Fra) , D Brooks (Eng) , R Steiner (Aut) , K Eriksson (Swe) , N Kearney (Irl) 
80 C Lee (Sco) , P Del Grosso (Arg) , J Heath (Eng) , C Rodiles (Esp) , R Hjelm (Den) , M Jones (am) (Bel) 
81 K Borsheim (Nor) , N McCarthy (Eng) , B Hebert (Fra) ,
82 P Gustafsson (Swe)

83 M Kramer (Ger) , F Elli (Ita) , S Quy (am) (Bel) ,

84 F Calmels (Fra)