Thursday, April 28, 2016

Hennie Otto sets China Open pace with a 63

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Hennie Otto enjoyed a sensational return to form as he fired a blemish-free nine under par 63 to set the clubhouse target on day one of the Volvo China Open.
The South African has not registered a top ten since his victory at the Open d'Italia  in 2014 and had not signed for a round under 70 on The European Tour since the second round of The BMW SA Open hosted by City of Ekurhuleni in January.
The 39 year old is a three-time winner on The European Tour, though, and he showed all his class with seven birdies and an eagle to open up a three-shot lead over Frenchman GrĂ©gory Bourdy, Swede Peter Hanson, Finland's Roope Kakko and Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti.
After starting on the tenth, he birdied the 11th, 15th and 17th but did not instantly hit the top of the leaderboard as countryman Dean Burmester played the front nine in 31.
Otto really then found his form as he picked up birdies on the second, third, fifth and seventh before he chipped in on the par five eighth to move clear of the rest of the field.
Kakko was also blemish-free as he turned in 31 thanks to birdies on the second, third, fifth, seventh and eighth but could only add one more on the back nine at the 15th.

Hanson had gains on the third and sixth before he eagled the eighth and he added further birdies on the 11th and 15th.
Zanotti had an up-and-down round as he made hat-tricks of birdies from the 11th and 18th but then dropped shots on the third and fourth. He was one roll from a hole-in-one on the sixth before making his eighth birdie of the day on the eighth.
Bourdy started with a birdie on the tenth but then recorded eight straight pars before six birdies on the front nine moved him up the leaderboard, with a single bogey on the seventh.
Spaniard Borja Virto Astudillo then had five birdies in a 67 to sit at five under.
Bogeys on the 16th and last stalled Burmester's progress and he dropped into a large group of players at four under including qualifier Wolmer Murillo and Australian PGA Championship winner Nathan Holman.
Mikko Korhonen, Joakim Lagergren, Richie Ramsay, Marcel Siem and Jeff Winther were also in the group five off the lead.
Rikard Karlberg was in the group at three under and he provided one of the highlights of the morning as he holed a seven iron from 201 yards on the 16th for the 17th hole-in-one of the season. The Swede won a brand new Volvo XC90 for his effort.
"I was discussing up on the tee with my caddy what club to hit and how to hit it and I had to give in," he said. "I was not convinced but he convinced me how I should hit it and I hit it just like that and it ended up perfectly.
"I'll probably give him two of the tyres or something as a thankyou!
"The factory is 30 minutes from where I live so it's pretty cool. I've won a Swedish car in China."

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

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SCOTS' SCORES
68 Richie Ramsay (T10)
69 Stephen Gallacher, Andrew McArthur (T23)
71 Scott Jamieson (T54)
72 David Drysdale (T70)
73 Marc Warren, Craig Lee (T92)

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