SCOT BEN COLLIER SHARES THE PGA PRO LEAD IN BULGARIA

FROM ADRIAN MILLEDGE OF THE PGA
Exiled Scot Ben Collier and Hugo Santos set the pace in the opening round of the revived PGA Professional Championship of Europe at Pravets Golf Resort and Spa, Bulgaria today.
Both carded flawless five-under-par rounds of 67 to open up a two-shot gap on the rest of the field in the championship that is sponsored by UniCredit Bulbank and carries a first prize of €10,000.
Collier, the Holland-based winner of the Scottish boys' match-play championship in 1990, and Portugal’s Santos also carded five birdies on the Peter Harradine-designed course that was in such superb condition it was difficult to accept it had only been opened in May.
Collier, who is based at the Royal Hague Golf and Country Club, said: “It must be the first time in my life that I’ve had a bogey-free round, so it’s good timing.
“And the course is in super condition, especially the greens. They are very true – you can read them and that gives you confidence.”
Not that Collier, a left-hander who worked at a Harradine-designed course in Abu Dhabi for two years before moving to Holland in January, was surprised by how quickly Pravets has matured.
He added: “That was good, so is this. It’s clear he knows what he’s doing. The front nine is quite tight and the back nine opens up a bit, which suits me.”
As if to prove the point, four of Collier’s quintet of birdies came in the back nine – at the 10th, 11th, 13th and 15th.
Santos, by contrast, carded two birdies in the first three holes and then followed suit at the 10th, 13th and 16th.
Santos, who is attached to Vila Sol and has made two appearances on the Challenge Tour this year, attributed his encouraging start to his driving.
He said: “I was very solid off the tee. I missed one fairway, so that set me up for a good round.”
And like Collier, he was similarly impressed with Harradine’s handiwork.
He added: “It’s a very good golf course that’s in perfect condition.”
Meanwhile, England’s Simon Edwards, the best placed representative from the home countries as a result of carding a three-under-par 69, was even more effusive.
He said: “It’s visually stunning, challenging and is in superb condition. If this is how golf in Bulgaria is going to be, then how can the game not take off here?”
Edwards, who represented Great Britain and Ireland in the PGA Cup earlier this month and played in The Open at Royal St George’s, looked on course to make it a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard going into the par three 17th.
Four-under at that stage, thanks to a birdie blitz at 10, 11, 12 and 13, his 3ft putt for par on the island green lipped out to cost him his sole bogey of the day and leave him level with Germany-based Briton Simon Brown.
But, with three more rounds remaining of the championship, which is being contested for the first time since 2004, Edwards was happy with his opening effort.
He added: “The bogey was disappointing, especially as I’d been putting OK. But if I’d been offered a 69 at the start of the day, I’d have taken it.”