Challenge Tour report and scores from Germany

Red-hot Ricardo produces Hartl gold

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Ricardo Gouveia continued his remarkable form on the European Challenge Tour to card a scorching course-record 63 in the German sunshine and take a two-shot lead after day one of the AEGEAN Airlines Challenge Tour by Hartl Resort.
The in-form Portuguese is the only man in the top 15 of the Road to Oman Rankings to have made the weekend at every event he has played this season but is still in search of a first win of the year, having earned victory in his seventh professional start at last year's EMG Golf Challenge Open.
The 23 year old charged into a commanding early lead after tearing apart the Beckenbauer Course, at the expansive German golfing mecca in the Bavaria region, with a flawless eight-under round which comprised six birdies and an eagle.
The confident young Vilamoura player experienced a relative slump in form over the last two weeks – having finished in the top ten for five consecutive weeks prior to a tied 35th finish in France a fortnight ago and a share of 19th in Scotland last week – but he believes he is back on track and is hoping to double his trophy haul on the Challenge Tour this week.
“I played really well today,” he said. “I holed a few putts which was the difference from the last few weeks. I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well recently and the putts just haven’t dropped but today I was able to hole a few good ones and to shoot the course record is just a bonus.
“I wouldn’t say things are coming easy for me now, I just think it’s the hard work paying off – everything I’ve done for the past four or five years in college. The transition was good and obviously the end of last year was really good for me, it gave me a lot of confidence."
Gouveia’s closest challengers came in the shape of local favourite Marcel Schneider, who entered this week brimful of confidence after a tied 20th finish at The European Tour’s BMW International Open last week, and Englishman Paul Howard.
A six under par 65 is the best score of Schneider’s short Challenge Tour career, and means is he is the leading German heading into the second round.”
Another German, Max Kramer, was a shot further back on six under, alongside Sweden’s Björn Åkesson, while Scot David Law, coming out of a form slump, was joined in sixth place by South African Dean Burmester and Belgium's Hugues Joannes.#


FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
par 71
63 R Gouveia (Por) ,
65 M Schneider (Ger) , P Howard  (Eng) ,
66 B Åkesson (Swe) , M Kramer  (Ger) ,
67 H Joannes  (Bel) , D Law (Sco) , D Burmester (RSA) ,
68 R Evans  (Eng) , A Ahokas (Fin) , J Walters (RSA) ,
69 N Ravano (Ita) , J Rask (Swe) , C Gloet  (Den) , P Winther (Den) , P Meesawat  (Tha) , C Arendell (USA) , J Huldahl (Den) , J Fahrbring (Swe) , R Coles (Eng) , N Geyger (Chi) , M Southgate  (Eng) , B Ritthammer (Ger) ,
70 J Ballesteros (Esp) , J Watts (Eng) , J Guerrier  (Fra) , M Fenasse (Fra) , D Im (USA) , A Hortal  (Esp) , R Enoch  (Wal) , D Foos (Ger) , J Robinson (Eng) , B Parker  (Eng) , A Björk (Swe) , S Gros (Fra) , N Elvira  (Esp) , B Stone (RSA) , N Kimsey (Eng) , W Booth  (Sco) , E Goya (Arg) ,
71 N Quintarelli (Ita) , A Bernadet  (Fra) , D Frittelli (RSA) , A Snobeck  (Fra) , J Winther (Den) , C Mivis  (Bel) , M Søgaard  (Den) , B Paolini (USA) , A Knappe (Ger) , P Relecom  (Bel) , R Megens (Bel) , C Aguilar  (Esp) , C Selfridge  (Nir) , E Cuartero Blanco  (Esp) , S Arnold  (Aus) , M Wiegele  (Aut) , E Dubois (Fra) , J Kunzenbacher (Ger) , F Praegant (Aut) ,
72 J Sarasti  (Esp) , R Kellett (Sco) , T Putkonen (Fin) , J Senior (Eng) , P Widegren  (Swe) , P Karantzias (Gre) , D Ulrich (Sui) , S Jeppesen  (Swe) , O Stark (Swe), N Bertasio (Ita) , C Ford (Eng) , J Elson  (Eng) , H Porteous (RSA) , M Orrin (Eng) , D Palm (Swe) , P Herreria (Esp) , R Fox (Nzl) , J Simon De Miguel (Esp) , W Besseling  (Ned) , A Altuntas (am) (Tur) ,
73 J White (Eng) , R Santos  (Por) , N Lemke (Swe) , R Whitson (Nir) , T Tree (Eng) , G Snow  (Ken) , T Pilkadaris (Aus) , L Gagli  (Ita), S Kannler (Ger) , S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) , N Floren (Swe) , J Gonnet  (Fra) , T Gornik (Slo) , A Bruschi (Ita) , S Kim (USA) , A Domingo (Esp) , J Sjöholm (Swe) , B Etchart  (Esp) ,
74 S Heisele (Ger) , N Kristensen  (Den) , B Hafthorsson (Isl) , J Carlota (Por) , S Piaget  (Mon) , M Jonzon (Swe) , G Lockerbie  (Eng) , K Ferrie (Eng) , F Laporta (Ita) , M Trappel  (Aut) , G Shaw (Nir) ,
75 K Benz (Sui) , M Cabrera-Bello (Esp) , F Becker (Ger) , L Corfield  (Eng) , L Motta (Ita) , A Halvorsen  (Nor) , N Kearney (Irl) , N Raymond (Eng) , G Woolgar (Eng) , S Echikson  (Bel) , P Figueiredo  (Por) , A Eckhardt (Fin) ,
76 A Rajmont  (Cze) , H Bacher (Aut) , M Delpodio  (Ita) , J Harrison (Eng) , L Claverie (Esp) , C Berardo (Fra) , C Brazillier  (Fra) , M Röhrig (Ger) , J Dantorp (Swe) , M Lafeber (Ned) , B Reil (am) (Ger) ,
77 L Nemecz (Aut) , O Henningsson  (Swe) , D Kemmer (USA) , A Romano  (Ita) , C Hanson (Eng) , A Kritikos (Gre) , S Akarsu (am) (Tur) ,
79 S Einhaus (Ger) , P Tarver-Jones (Eng) , F Bergamaschi (Ita) , T Nemecz (Aut) , H Yamac (Tur) ,
80 P Gal  (Cze) , A Korinek (Cze) , J Hahn (USA) ,
81 A Rota (Ita) , T Sluiter  (Ned) ,
82 Y Kafelnikov (Rus) , D Suchan  (Cze) ,
83 A Wennstam (Swe) , P Dedek (am) (Cze) , M Gehr (am) (Ger) ,
86 H Engdahl (Swe) ,
** N Meitinger  (Ger) , S Grant  (Irl) ,




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