CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT AND SCORES

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes

François Delamontagne attributed his upturn in fortunes to a change of coach after posting a superb round of 66 on the opening day of the ECCO Tour Championship hosted by Thomas Björn and Mercedes-Benz.   

The Frenchman is now under the tutelage of Benoit Ducolombier, who also coaches his compatriot Grégory Havret, and the intensive practice sessions the pair have recently undertaken paid off in spectacular fashion with a vastly improved display at Stensballegaard Golf in Horsens, Denmark.

The 33 year old from Rennes has endured a wretched campaign this year, missing ten cuts from 12 appearances on the Challenge Tour, but rediscovered the form of his halcyon days on The European Tour with eight birdies – five of them in his last six holes.

That saw Delamontagne – playing in the first group of the day – set the pace on six under par, one stroke clear of Denmark’s Joachim B Hansen, who opened with a crowd-pleasing round of 67.

Delamontagne said: “It took me a while to wake up, because it was an early start this morning! But the conditions were perfect first thing because there was hardly any breeze, so the course was probably playing as easy as it’s going to get this week and I managed to take advantage.

“Yesterday I worked on my short game and my putting with my new coach, and today I was much better on and around the greens. We started working together at the Open de France – I decided to change because I’ve had so many troubles over the last two years so I just wanted to try something different, and hopefully today was a real turning point for me.”

Hansen has fared rather better this season, recording comfortably the best performance of his fledgling Challenge Tour career with a runner-up finish at the Double Tree by Hilton Acaya Open in July, and the Dane continued his encouraging run of form with five birdies and an eagle three on the par five tenth hole, where he chipped in. The 21 year old, who celebrates his birthday on Saturday, was particularly happy with his short game, having holed out twice from off the green and made several putts from long range.

He said: “My short game’s normally pretty good and today it was very good, which it has to be out there because there are run-off areas on quite a few holes. My irons were also solid, and even when I did get out of position on the greens I managed to recover. So it was a good day, and it was nice to have some support out there. I have lots of friends and family here Copenhagen, so it was great to play well for them.”

England’s James Busby, who mixed six birdies with two bogeys, was next best on four under par. Included in the group on three under par is Denmark’s Andreas Hartø, a winner of this tournament as an amateur two years ago.

Three-time European Tour champion Nick Dougherty of England, meanwhile, faces an uphill battle to make the 60-man cut after signing for a two over par round of 74 which included a triple bogey eight at the ninth hole.

Scores after round one:

66 F Delamontagne (Fra) 

 67 J Hansen  (Den) 

 68 J Busby (Eng)

 69 B Parker  (Eng) , B Hafthorsson (Isl) , M Korhonen (Fin) , M Tullo (Chi) , A Tadini (Ita) , A John (Ger) , D Brooks (Eng) , A Hartø  (Den) , N Meitinger  (Ger) 

 70 N Lemke (Swe) , L Claverie (Esp) , D Vancsik (Arg) , S Kim (Kor) , J Gibb (Eng) , K Eriksson (Swe) , M Delpodio  (Ita) , K Broberg (Swe) , A Ahokas (Fin) , C Russo (Fra) ,

 71 F Christensen (Swe) , J Abbott (Eng) , E Dubois (Fra) , B An (Kor) , L Saltman (Sco) , P Oriol (Esp) , C Lee (Sco) , S O'Hara  (Sco) , P Kaensche  (Nor) , J Legarrea (Esp) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , C Monasterio (Arg) , G Clark (Eng) , S Tiley (Eng) , D Palm (Swe) , M Prihoda (Cze) , S Garcia (Esp) , A Domingo (Esp) , R Dinwiddie  (Eng) , A Kaleka  (Fra) , J Palmer (Eng) ,

 72 L Johansen (Den) , T Rosendahl (Swe) , M Carlsson  (Swe) , L Jensen (Den) , M Glauert (Ger) , E De La Riva  (Esp) , C Lange  (Den) , P Relecom  (Bel) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , A Hansen  (Den) , B Åkesson (Swe) , V Riu  (Fra) , M Southgate  (Eng) , J Parry (Eng) , F Fritsch  (Ger) , R Echenique (Arg) ,

 73 L Bjerregaard  (Den) , A McArthur  (Sco) , J Heath  (Eng) , S Gundorph (Den) , C Brazillier  (Fra) , A Kasprzak (Den) , E Bertheussen (Nor) , R Steiner (Aut) , C Paisley  (Eng) , N Henriques  (Por) , M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) , D Ulrich (Sui) , J Kaske (Fin) , A Perrino  (Ita) , B Ahlenback (Swe) , P Archer (Eng) , C Doak (Sco) , P Gustafsson (Swe) , N Møller (am) (Den) ,

 74 M Kieffer (Ger) , R Hjelm (Den) , J Barnes (Eng) , J Dantorp (Swe) , L Kennedy  (Eng) , M Ford (Eng) , P Edberg (Swe) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , A Velasco (Esp) , S Buhl (Ger) , B Etchart  (Esp) , K Grud (Den) , G Dear (Sco) , N Johansson (Swe) , G Piris Mateu (Esp) , M Hedegaard (Den) , J Carlsson (Swe) , D Lokke (Den) , N Dougherty  (Eng) , M Madsen  (Den) , A Knappe (Ger) , A Otaegui  (Esp) , K Storgaard (Den) , M Murphy  (Irl) , J Nissen (Den) , C Moriarty (Irl) , L Goddard  (Eng) , F Praegant (Aut) , E Blom (Swe) , M Haastrup  (Den) , B Evans  (Eng) , H Bacher (Aut) , J Lima  (Por) ,

 75 J Huldahl (Den) , A Bernadet  (Fra) , A Kristiansen  (Nor) , J Wahlqvist (Swe) , B Barham (Eng) , N Bertasio (Ita) , C Suneson (Esp) , R Kakko  (Fin) , J Martikainen (Fin) , S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) , T Sluiter  (Ned) , G Stal  (Fra) , B Chapellan (Fra) ,

 76 D Gaunt (Aus) , F Calmels  (Fra) , P Dwyer (Eng) , S Jeppesen  (Swe) , M Haines  (Eng) , S Henry  (Sco) , C Aronsen  (Nor) , C Gloet (am) (Den) , M Simonsen (am) (Den) ,

 77 G Cambis  (Fra) , D Küpper (Ger) , P O'Neill (Den) , G Houston (Wal) , C Ford (Eng) ,

 78 J Doherty  (Sco) , S Piaget  (Mon) , C Gane (Eng) , J Rask (Swe) , M Nixon (Eng) , P Gal  (Cze) , J Lerchedahl (Den) , V Østerby (am) (Den) ,

 79 S Walker (Eng) , K Nielsen (Den) , J Winther (Den) , A Tampion  (Aus) , V Henum (am) (Den) ,

 80 O Nyholm (Den) ,

 81 S Engell Andersen  (Ken) ,

 82 D Law (Sco) ,

 83 M Vibe-Hastrup  (Den) ,

 ** F McGuirk  (Eng) ,

Paul Symes

Press Officer

European Tour

Wentworth Drive | Virginia Water | Surrey | GU25 4LX | UNITED KINGDOM

Tel :  +44 (0) 1344 840442

Mob: +44 (0) 7880 601009

Fax:  +44  (0) 1344 840444

Email : psymes@europeantour.com

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