HULDAHL IS GREAT DANE WITH EIGHT-UNDER 64 AT CATALUNYA

CHRIS DOAK IN SECOND PLACE

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT
Former European Tour winner Jeppe Huldahl carded an incredible ten birdies, seven on his front nine, on the way to an eight under par 64 to take the lead after the opening round of the Challenge de Catalunya.
The Dane recorded his best result in four months on the European Challenge Tour in last week’s ALLIANZ Golf Open Toulouse Metropole with a tied 13th finish and he continued in that vein of form at Golf La Graiera in Northern Spain to move a shot clear of Scotland’s Chris Doak on eight under.
Huldalh teed off on the tenth hole and got off to a stunning start, birdieing his first hole before a par at the 11th was followed by six birdies in his next seven holes to reach the turn in seven under par.
The wheels came off his amazing round somewhat when the 2010 Wales Open winner bogeyed the tenth hole after a poor drive before dropping another shot thanks to a three-putt at the par five fourth hole but he bounced back with three consecutive birdies from the fifth hole to put himself in with a shot of a second Challenge Tour victory.
“My putting was really good,” said Huldahl, whose sole Challenge Tour win came at the Lexus Open in 2008.
 “I was disappointed with my bogey on the fourth hole but there are so many good holes to look at in that round. My iron play was really good, I hit it close, left easy putts and holed them.”
Huldahl has struggled to build any consistency this year but did manage a runner-up finish in the ALLIANZ Open Côtes d’Armor Bretagne in May.
However, the 30 year old admitted he has had some stressful times off the golf course which have played a part in his poor form but believes he is on the road to recovery.
“I have a nine month old daughter and she was born with a problem in her brain so we have spent seven months going through hospitals and surgeries,” he said. “She is fine now but it did put lot of weight on my shoulders for a while.
“I have struggled this season and there is still a lot of work to be done but in the last couple of weeks my game has improved.
Doak’s hunt for a first win on the Challenge Tour continued as the Greenock man signed for a seven under par round of 65 to finish the day in outright second place while the home challenge was led by Jordi Garcia Pinto, who was in tied third place on six under par alongside Luke Goddard, Espen Kofstad, Alessandro Tadini and Stuart Davis.
SCOREBOARD
Par 72Jeppe HULDAHL DEN 64
Chris DOAK SCO 65
Jordi GARCIA PINTO ESP 66
Luke GODDARD ENG 66
Espen KOFSTAD NOR 66
Alessandro TADINI ITA 66
Stuart DAVIS ENG 66
Pelle EDBERG SWE 67
Chris GANE ENG 67
Sebastian BUHL GER 67
Thomas FEYRSINGER AUT 67
Pol BECH ESP 67
Robert DINWIDDIE ENG 68
Edouard DUBOIS FRA 68
Matthew NIXON ENG 68
Carlos GARCIA SIMARRO ESP 68
Anders Schmidt HANSEN DEN 68
Chris LLOYD ENG 68
James BUSBY ENG 68
Brooks KOEPKA USA 68
Jordan GIBB ENG 68
Magnus A CARLSSON SWE 68
Raymond RUSSELL SCO 68
Andrew MCARTHUR SCO 68
Roope KAKKO FIN 68
Andrew PARR CAN 68
Jamie ABBOTT ENG 69
Daniel BROOKS ENG 69
Jerome LANDO CASANOVA FRA 69
Mikko KORHONEN FIN 69
Byeong-hun AN KOR 69
Andreas HARTØ DEN 69
John PARRY ENG 69
H P BACHER AUT 69
Sebastian GARCIA RODRIGUEZ ESP 69
Rikard KARLBERG SWE 69
Nicolas MEITINGER GER 69
Jens DANTORP SWE 69
Luis CLAVERIE ESP 70
Stephen GRANT IRL 70
Callum MACAULAY SCO 70
Steven TILEY ENG 70
Jamie McLEARY SCO 70
Tim SLUITER NED 70
Ignacio ELVIRA ESP 70
Raphaël DE SOUSA SUI 70
Gary LOCKERBIE ENG 70
Peter GUSTAFSSON SWE 70
Agustin DOMINGO ESP 70
Daniel VANCSIK ARG 71
Benn BARHAM ENG 71
Wil BESSELING NED 71
Alexander LEVY FRA 71
Raul QUIROS ESP 71
Andrea PERRINO ITA 71
Chris PAISLEY ENG 71
Alexandre KALEKA FRA 71
Jack DOHERTY SCO 71
Justin WALTERS RSA 71
Marco CRESPI ITA 71
Santiago LUNA ESP 71
Mikael LUNDBERG SWE 71
Paul DWYER ENG 71
Janne MOMMO FIN 71
Eduardo DE LA RIVA ESP 71
Pedro ORIOL ESP 72
Niklas DAHLGREN FIN 72
Steven O'HARA SCO 72
Rafa ECHENIQUE ARG 72
Christophe BRAZILLIER FRA 72
Gary STAL FRA 72
Lloyd SALTMAN SCO 72
Alvaro SALTO ESP 72
Matt FORD ENG 73
Uli WEINHANDL AUT 73
Javier SAN FELIX ESP 73
Sergio GONZALEZ GARCIA ESP 73
Jordan RUSSELL USA 73
Garry HOUSTON WAL 73
James HEATH ENG 73
Andrew TAMPION AUS 73
Bjorn ÅKESSON SWE 73
Phillip ARCHER ENG 73
Juan Antonio BRAGULAT ESP 73
Carl SUNESON ESP 73
Daniel GAUNT AUS 73
Adrian OTAEGUI ESP 73
Alvaro VELASCO ESP 73
Xavier GUZMAN ESP 73
Sihwan KIM KOR 73
Rasmus HJELM DEN 74
Adrien BERNADET FRA 74

Chris HANSON ENG 74

Julien GUERRIER FRA 74

Christian ARONSEN NOR 74

Åke NILSSON SWE 74

Klas ERIKSSON SWE 74

Steven JEPPESEN SWE 74

Bernd RITTHAMMER GER 74

Matteo DELPODIO ITA 74

Knut BORSHEIM NOR 74

Carlos AGUILAR ESP 74

Seve BENSON ENG 74

Borja ETCHART ESP 74

Mark TULLO CHI 74

Sam HUTSBY ENG 74

François DELAMONTAGNE FRA 74

André BOSSERT SUI 75
Michael LORENZO-VERA FRA 75
Nick DOUGHERTY ENG 75
Maximilian KIEFFER GER 75
Jose Manuel MANCEBO ESP 75
Matthew SOUTHGATE ENG 76
Charles-Edouard RUSSO FRA 76
Anthony SNOBECK FRA 76
Adam GEE ENG 76
Antonio HORTAL ESP 76
Victor RIU FRA 76
Francis MCGUIRK ENG 77
Antti AHOKAS FIN 77
Rafael GALLARDO ESP 77
Ivó GINER ESP 77
Scott PINCKNEY USA 77
Elias BERTHEUSSEN NOR 77
Sebi GARCIA ESP 79
Johan WAHLQVIST SWE 79
Mark F HAASTRUP DEN 79
Pablo HERRERIA ESP 80
Javier GALLARDO ESP 81
Daniel LOKKE DEN 81
Carlos GONZALEZ LOPEZ ESP 84
Withdrew: Sam WALKER ENG