JAMIE McLEARY FOUR UNDER PAR START TO KENYA OPEN

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR NEWS RELEASE
By SARAH GWYNN
Scotland’s Jamie McLeary fired a four under par 67 in the first round of the Barclays Kenya Open today to sit three shots off the lead held by Dane Morten Orum Madsen.
The 30 year old Edinburgh-based player continued his fine form from three weeks ago, when he finished tied eighth in the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Classic in his first Challenge Tour appearance of the season.
“I played well today,” said McLeary. “I teed off from the tenth and had birdies at the 13th, 15th, 17th, 18th, fourth and ninth, but I bogeyed the first and the eighth.
“The course is fiery. You need a lot less club because of the altitude, so it’s challenging adjusting your distances. It’s mostly irons off the tee and just a question of hitting it down the middle, because anywhere off the fairway can be punishing.
“The greens are tricky and hard to read, but I managed to hole a couple of nice putts today.”
McLeary finished 84th in the Rankings last season but has much loftier ambitions this year.
“My goal for the season is the same as everyone’s – to finish first in the Rankings,” he said. “That’s got to be the aim, but I’d take anywhere in the top 20. Ideally you want to be in the top few. I’ll have to win a couple of times for that to happen, but hopefully this will be my season.”
Fellow Scots Chris Doak and Scott Henry opened with a one over par 72, while Jack Doherty signed for a 71, Andrew McArthur carded a 73 and Gavin Dear had a 76.

FIRST-ROUND SCORES

64 M Madsen (Den)

66 S Benson (Eng), T Mordt (RSA) 

67 J McLeary (Sco), D Indiza  (Ken), M Ford (Eng) , J Van Der Vaart (Ned) ,

68 J Walters (RSA), J Heath  (Eng), B Njoroge  (Ken) , S Piaget  (Mon) , J Robinson (Eng) , R Quiros  (Esp) , F Praegant (Aut) , J Palmer (Eng) , M Tullo (Chi) , J Harding  (RSA) 

69 S Norris  (RSA) , G Lockerbie  (Eng) , D Wright (Eng) , J Lorum  (Ken) , F De Vries  (Ned) , J Barnes (Eng) , M Cryer (Eng) , L Jensen (Den) , O Farr (Wal)

70 K Timbe  (Ken) , N Cheetham (Eng) , D Gaunt (Aus) , C Monasterio (Arg) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , R Echenique (Arg) , B Etchart  (Esp) , G Giddie  (Ken) , O Bekker (RSA) , N Dougherty  (Eng) , U Weinhandl (Aut)

71 A Rota (Ita) , L Goddard  (Eng) , J Doherty  (Sco) , J Hansen  (Den) , J Kagiri  (Ken) , A Shah (Ken) , R Dinwiddie  (Eng) , T Feyrsinger  (Aut) , B Chapellan (Fra) , P Relecom  (Bel) , T Leon (USA) , C Brazillier  (Fra) , N Ravano (Ita) , P Archer (Eng) , A Butterfield (Eng) , F McGuirk  (Eng) , C Lloyd (Eng) , J Busby (Eng) , J Gibb (Eng) 

72 L Canter (Eng) , M Kieffer (Ger) , A Kaleka  (Fra) , J Huldahl (Den) , C Paisley  (Eng) , X Poncelet  (Fra) , C Doak (Sco) , G Stal  (Fra) , D Lokke (Den) , M Glauert (Ger) , A Perrino  (Ita) , G Clark (Eng) , S Henry  (Sco) , F Keenan  (Eng) , B Åkesson (Swe) , J Abbott (Eng) , L Bjerregaard  (Den) , M Bremner (RSA) , S Manley (Wal) , A Versfeld (RSA) , D Brooks (Eng) 

73 A McArthur  (Sco) , D Higgins (Irl) , S Jeppesen  (Swe) , J Wahlqvist (Swe) , B Barham (Eng) , D Odhiambo  (Ken) , T Ferreira  (RSA) , C Suneson (Esp) , F Ojeda  (Arg) , A Kimani  (Ken) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , P Dwyer (Eng) , K Benz (Sui) , J Okello (Ken) , A Knappe (Ger) , A John (Ger) , C McNamara (Irl)

74 E Kofstad (Nor) , K Eriksson (Swe) , A Hartø  (Den) , L Claverie (Esp) , L Bond (Wal) , D Vancsik (Arg) , S Engell Andersen  (Ken) , S Muthugia (Ken) , S Garcia (Esp) , R Ainley (Ken) , M Delpodio  (Ita) , J Grillon  (Fra) , M Bothma (RSA) , J Dantorp (Swe) , D Wakhu  (Ken) , M Omondi (am) (Ken)

75 N Rokoine  (Ken) , F Nkya (Tan) , S Buhl (Ger) , G Houston (Wal) , T Hatton (Eng) , L Tintera  (Cze) , C Ford (Eng) , B Easton (RSA) , F Calmels  (Fra) , P Njagi (Ken) , A Bossert (Sui) , N Lemke (Swe) , J Clément  (Sui) , S Tiley (Eng) , D Opati (am) (Ken)

76 R Charania (Ken) , R Steiner (Aut) , J Kaske (Fin) , B Evans  (Eng) , T Whitehouse  (Eng) , G Dear (Sco) , C Thethy (Ken) , J Karanja (am) (Ken) ,

77 S Ngige (Ken) , B Simwa (Ken) , G Snow  (Ken) , S Brown (Eng) , A Högberg (Swe)

78 R Harris  (Eng) , G Bentley (Zim) , R Schneider (Fra) , J Senior (Eng) , F Matilo (am) (Ken)

79 N Meitinger  (Ger) , B Parker  (Eng) , N Kearney (Irl) , J Hakizimana (Rwa) , R De Sousa (Sui) , M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) , J Kiondo (Ken) , M Chiluba (Zam) ,

80 H Thethy  (Ken) , N Ngugi (Ken)

81 J Schmid (Sui) , J Karanja (am) (Ken),

84 R Owiti (am) (Ken)