Drysdale (67) leads Scots in Turkey

 FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

George Coetzee claimed the first-round lead at the Turkish Airlines Open, courtesy of a seven-under-par 64 at Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort, where Danny Willett’s chase to regain the top spot in the Race to Dubai began with a solid two-under-par 69.

South African Coetzee has been struggling with his form of late but earned his place in the opening tournament of the Final Series courtesy of a strong start to the 2016 season, and he capitalised in impressive fashion.

The 30 year old, a three time winner on the European Tour, carded eight birdies and a solitary bogey to finish the day one shot clear of Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen, who birdied the 18^th en route to an opening 65.

Spaniard Jorge Campillo, Li Haotong of China, Italian Matteo Manassero and Bernd Wiesberger of Austria all shared third place on five under par while Masters Champion Willett was a further three shots back as he attempts to usurp Henrik Stenson at the summit of the Race to Dubai Rankings.

Player quotes

George Coetzee

“I'm happy. I've been feeling like I've been playing well the last couple of weeks. The game is finally starting to come together and it's nice to see the scores starting to show.

“It's just all the stuff that I've been working on this year. It's been a long, hard process. I've not been playing really well. I just had to be patient and luckily now is as good a time as any for it to start clicking.

“You hope it will come. No one really knows in this game. I did sacrifice a bit this year, obviously not playing great and working on stuff, and not going back to the bad habits. But I'm happy I did it. It feels really comfortable out there, so I feel it will pay off.”

Thorbjørn Olesen

“I felt like in the last few weeks, my game's been really good. I felt like I played really nicely in Portugal and couldn't really get it going, but felt like I was playing really well.

“Yesterday in the Pro-Am I was playing really, really well also, so I felt like something good was going to come soon. It’s just hard work, that's always what it is in golf, really.

“I have actually played here before on the Challenge Tour. I think it was probably six or seven years ago. I didn't know that until I played yesterday in the Pro-Am and I enjoy it. I always love coming to Turkey. It has great golf courses, a great hotel and the service is fantastic. It's always very enjoyable to be here.”

Bernd Wiesberger

“Obviously I'm happy with the score, to be up there with the leaders. That's good. I had a really nice finish with a couple of tap-ins for birdie and a nice finish on the last. It was a bit of mixed feelings out there really, a couple of holes I got a bit grumpy and maybe left some shots out there.

“I guess it's been a long year for all of us. But still, there's a lot to play for. I need to come out tomorrow again and motivate myself like I did today the last couple of holes, which are really good holes to turn it around.”
Matteo Manassero
“I played really well. I started not so well on the greens, but then I got myself together and I made some really good putts. I finished great, holing a bunker shot on ten, which was a great bonus. But overall it was a solid round and I'm obviously very happy to start that way.
“I didn't play the last well at all. I hit a driver right and I had a gap, hit it to the back of the green with a four-iron and made the bunker shot. So it was not really the normal way of making birdie but that's one way of doing it.”

Jorge Campillo

“It was 167 yards to the pin for the hole in one. It was an eight-iron, the wind was helping. So a little easy eight-iron and the ball was just two meters right of the hole.

“I saw it landed kind of soft and I told my caddie, it was probably close to going in. Some people clapped but there were not many people out there, so I didn't know the ball went in. We got to the green and just two balls on the green, so I figured it was in the hole.

“I've been playing good all season. I've been solid. But obviously nice to start the tournament like this. We still have 54 holes to go, so we'll see.”

Danny Willett

par 71

“I hit some great iron shots. I thought my iron play and wedges was really spot on. I’m still struggling to get the consistency and the flight off the tee.

“There were a few good ones, just a couple that cost me a few silly shots. It's a lot better than it has been. I gave myself some chances again. It was a lot more positive.”
 

Round one scores: 
par 71
64 G Coetzee (RSA)
65 T Olesen (Den)
66 B Wiesberger  (Aut); J Campillo (Esp); L Haotong (Chn); M Manassero (Ita)
67 L Bjerregaard  (Den); J Wang (SKor); D Horsey (Eng); P Larrazábal (Esp); D Drysdale (Sco); T Jaidee (Tha); D Lipsky (USA); F Aguilar (Chi)
68 J Quesne  (Fra); J Walters (RSA); S Hend (Aus); B An (Kor); J Carlsson (Swe); M Warren (Sco)

69 D Willett  (Eng); G Havret  (Fra); R Jacquelin (Fra); P Lawrie (Sco); S Kjeldsen (Den); R Rock (Eng); N Bertasio (Ita); L Slattery (Eng); R Wattel  (Fra)
70 M Korhonen (Fin); A Cañizares  (Esp); W Ashun (Chn); R Karlsson (Swe); R Bland (Eng); L Westwood (Eng); R Gouveia (Por); J Lagergren (Swe); N Colsaerts  (Bel); F Zanotti (Par); M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra); D Fichardt (RSA); N Elvira  (Esp); B Hebert  (Fra); M Carlsson  (Swe); J Morrison  (Eng); A Otaegui  (Esp)

71 R Sterne  (RSA); C Paisley  (Eng); R Ramsay  (Sco); D Brooks (Eng); R Paratore (Ita); T Aiken (RSA); T Fleetwood  (Eng); C Shinkwin (Eng); L Jensen (Den); A Sullivan (Eng); A Johnston (Eng);

72 K Aphibarnrat (Tha); A Lahiri (Ind); M Southgate  (Eng); A Levy (Fra); V Dubuisson  (Fra); G Bourdy (Fra); P Harrington (Irl); T Hatton (Eng); P Edberg (Swe); H Porteous (RSA)

73 O Fisher  (Eng); B Stone (RSA); M Kieffer (Ger)

74 M Ilonen  (Fin); S Chawrasia (Ind); A Altuntas (Tur) (am)

75 N Holman  (Aus); L Acikalin (am) (Tur) (am)

76 J Van Zyl (RSA)

80 M Siem  (Ger)

81 M Guner (Tur) (am)