STEVEN O'HARA MAKES GOOD START TO CHALLENGE TOUR EVENT IN NORWAY
Steven O’Hara announced his belief that he could win the Norwegian Challenge prior to the tournament this week, and the Motherwell man backed up those claims with a five under par opening round of 67 which put him within just two shots of the lead at Byneset GK.
In his second Challenge Tour appearance of the season, O’Hara carded five birdies and not a single bogey as he shared third place going into the second day at the venue just outside Trondheim.
The 32 year old opened with four pars before birdies at the fifth and seventh holes helped him reach the turn in two under par and he gained shots at the par four 12th, the par three 15th and par five 17th to finish the day two shots behind overnight leader Alvaro Velasco.
“I hit the ball really well again today,” said O’Hara, who claimed his best finish of The European Tour season at the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity two weeks ago. “I even left a few shots out there. I think I had a putt for birdie at every hole.
“I was hitting all the fairways and all the greens and that left me in good positions all day. I've just continued on from Austria. I'm swinging it really good and striking the ball very well so I just need to keep that going and keep giving myself chances.”
Andrew McArthur joined O’Hara and ten others in tied third place after he also signed for a bogey-free 67, with four birdies in five holes earning him a four under par back nine.
Gavin Dear was two shots further back on three under par after opening with a round of 69 and the 28 year old revealed that, having given his compatriot and friend Scott
Henry putting advice which helped him to a 13th place finish in Finland last week,
Henry returned the favour with some valuable advice on Dear’s driving.
“I played good today and actually enjoyed it, which makes a change,” said the Perth man. “I've been trying a few different things this week. I gave Scott putting lessons last week and we had a chat about my long game this week and he gave me some really good advice.
“It was just mental stuff, talking about ways of doing things. He suggested some things which changed the way I was thinking and how I approached my driving so it really helped.”
Chris Doak and Lloyd Saltman were alongside Dear in tied 27th place while Jack Doherty and Callum Macaulay both carded level par rounds of 72 and Scott Henry was one under par after a 73.
Meanwhile, former Rankings winner Alvaro Velasco returned to the top of the pile on the Challenge Tour, this time at the Norwegian Challenge as the Spaniard carded a superb seven under par round of 65 to take the overnight lead after the first day.
That handed Velasco a one shot advantage over Englishman Matt Haines at Byneset GK, where the interest in local man Elias Bertheussen was growing as the 21 year old was just three shots off the pace.
Coincidentally, Haines was the man who finished second to Velasco in the 2010 Challenge Tour Rankings, having won the season-ending Apulia San Domenico Grand Final right before his Spanish counter-part was crowned Number One.
In his second Challenge Tour appearance of the season, O’Hara carded five birdies and not a single bogey as he shared third place going into the second day at the venue just outside Trondheim.
The 32 year old opened with four pars before birdies at the fifth and seventh holes helped him reach the turn in two under par and he gained shots at the par four 12th, the par three 15th and par five 17th to finish the day two shots behind overnight leader Alvaro Velasco.
“I hit the ball really well again today,” said O’Hara, who claimed his best finish of The European Tour season at the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity two weeks ago. “I even left a few shots out there. I think I had a putt for birdie at every hole.
“I was hitting all the fairways and all the greens and that left me in good positions all day. I've just continued on from Austria. I'm swinging it really good and striking the ball very well so I just need to keep that going and keep giving myself chances.”
Andrew McArthur joined O’Hara and ten others in tied third place after he also signed for a bogey-free 67, with four birdies in five holes earning him a four under par back nine.
Gavin Dear was two shots further back on three under par after opening with a round of 69 and the 28 year old revealed that, having given his compatriot and friend Scott
Henry putting advice which helped him to a 13th place finish in Finland last week,
Henry returned the favour with some valuable advice on Dear’s driving.
“I played good today and actually enjoyed it, which makes a change,” said the Perth man. “I've been trying a few different things this week. I gave Scott putting lessons last week and we had a chat about my long game this week and he gave me some really good advice.
“It was just mental stuff, talking about ways of doing things. He suggested some things which changed the way I was thinking and how I approached my driving so it really helped.”
Chris Doak and Lloyd Saltman were alongside Dear in tied 27th place while Jack Doherty and Callum Macaulay both carded level par rounds of 72 and Scott Henry was one under par after a 73.
Meanwhile, former Rankings winner Alvaro Velasco returned to the top of the pile on the Challenge Tour, this time at the Norwegian Challenge as the Spaniard carded a superb seven under par round of 65 to take the overnight lead after the first day.
That handed Velasco a one shot advantage over Englishman Matt Haines at Byneset GK, where the interest in local man Elias Bertheussen was growing as the 21 year old was just three shots off the pace.
Coincidentally, Haines was the man who finished second to Velasco in the 2010 Challenge Tour Rankings, having won the season-ending Apulia San Domenico Grand Final right before his Spanish counter-part was crowned Number One.
FIRST-ROUND SCORES
65 A Velasco (Esp)
66 M Haines (Eng)
67 M Delpodio (Ita) , B Ahlenback (Swe) , J Senior (Eng) , K Broberg (Swe) , L Goddard (Eng) , S O'Hara (Sco) , M Tullo (Chi) , M Kieffer (Ger) , A McArthur (Sco) , V Riu (Fra) , A Otaegui (Esp) , A Tadini (Ita)
68 E Bertheussen (Nor) , C Lloyd (Eng) , J Clément (Sui) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , A Kaleka (Fra) , A Högberg (Swe) , J Busby (Eng) , J Van Der Vaart (Ned) , O Wilson (Eng) , G Stal (Fra) , B An (Kor) , B Koepka (USA)
69 M Quiros (Esp) , F Praegant (Aut) , B Barham (Eng) , F De Vries (Ned) , L Saltman (Sco) , D Geminiani (Ita) , S Brown (Eng) , C Ford (Eng) , A Engell (am) (Nor) , P Gustafsson (Swe) , G Dear (Sco) , R Echenique (Arg) , J Rask (Swe) , G Lockerbie (Eng) , P Erofejeff (Fin) , N Lemke (Swe) , C Doak (Sco) , S Garcia (Esp) , M Glauert (Ger) , B Chapellan (Fra) , A Bernadet (Fra)
70 S Jeppesen (Swe) , R Dinwiddie (Eng) , K Borsheim (Nor) , J Grillon (Fra) , G Clark (Eng) , J Mommo (Fin) , N Kearney (Irl) , L Kennedy (Eng) , A Snobeck (Fra) , A Perrino (Ita) , D Ulrich (Sui) , D Küpper (Ger) , C Russo (Fra) , S Walker (Eng) , P Oriol (Esp) , L Richard (Bel) , J Walters (RSA) , C Monasterio (Arg) , R McGowan (Eng) , M Nixon (Eng) , J Dantorp (Swe) , H Bacher (Aut) , A Gjesteby (am) (Nor) , S Kim (Kor)
71 H Joannes (Bel) , A Sullivan (Eng) , T Ferreira (RSA) , M Eliasson (Swe) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , J Palmer (Eng) , M Cryer (Eng) , C Mivis (Bel) , B Etchart (Esp) , J Gibb (Eng) , A Ahokas (Fin) , I Elvira (Esp) , J Heath (Eng) , H Satama (Fin) , E Dubois (Fra) , K Eriksson (Swe) , D Lokke (Den) , C Gane (Eng) , S Wakefield (Eng) , E Kofstad (Nor)
72 J Wahlqvist (Swe) , A Domingo (Esp) , F Delamontagne (Fra) , A Tampion (Aus) , C Macaulay (Sco) , J Guerrier (Fra) , J Mikkelsen (Nor) , M Haastrup (Den) , A Hortal (Esp) , A Hansen (Den) , J Doherty (Sco) , F McGuirk (Eng) , F Fritsch (Ger) , N Dougherty (Eng) , D Vancsik (Arg) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , L Jensen (Den) , C Suneson (Esp)
73 P Relecom (Bel) , K Svanum (am) (Nor) , J Lima (Por) , M Crespi (Ita) , F Keenan (Eng) , J Abbott (Eng) , C Aronsen (Nor) , S Lund (Nor) , J Huldahl (Den) , A Kristiansen (Nor) , S Henry (Sco) , A Knappe (Ger) , A Rota (Ita) , B Pastore (Ita) , U Weinhandl (Aut)
74 P Mikalsen (am) (Nor) , B Christov (Nor) , T Feyrsinger (Aut) , A Bruschi (Ita) , E Pepperell (Eng) , P Kaensche (Nor) , M Southgate (Eng)
75 K Johannessen (am) (Nor) , M Ford (Eng) , C Baunsoe (Den) , G Houston (Wal) , A Friestad (Nor) , M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) , R Hjelm (Den) , C Brazillier (Fra) , J Barnes (Eng)
76 J Hansen (Den) , S Piaget (Mon) , N Ravano (Ita) , F Calmels (Fra) ,
77 R Karlberg (Swe) , N Bertasio (Ita) , N Meitinger (Ger) , O Gudjonsson (Nor) ,
78 A Parr (Can) , P Archer (Eng)
79 L Michelsen (Nor) , L Canter (Eng)
80 V Maroy (am) (Nor)
82 O Henningsson (Swe)
88 J Svoboda (Cze)
** G Cambis (Fra)
Labels: CHALLENGE TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Friday, August 10, 2012
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