Italy's Pavan sets Swiss Challenge pace

FROM THE CHALLENGE TOUR WEBSITE
Italy's Andrea Pavan shot a five under par 66 to claim the top spot after round one of the Swiss Challenge presented by Association Suisse de Golf on the European Challenge Tour.
The 2013 Challenge Tour Number One showed the kind of form which has made him a four-time winner on Europe’s top developmental tour, carding seven birdies on day one at Golf Sempachersee, Lucerne
The 27 year old, who finished second behind England’s Tommy Fleetwood in the 2011 Challenge Tour Rankings, is one shot clear of the rest of the field after dropping just two shots during his opening 18 holes.
After two top ten finishes already this season, the experienced Italian is confident he can improve on his strong start in the Swiss mountains.  
“I had a good start after I birdied the first and then went on to play really well,” said Pavan, who led after two rounds in the Czech Republic last week. 
“I kept hitting it close and managed to keep it going all the way round. I made only one silly mistake on 15 where I hit a nine iron from the rough and just pulled it a touch and went on to miss the green – but it was the only green I missed. Then I went on to make birdie on the next hole. 
“Overall I played very solid. My irons were good and I managed to hit it pin high so I was very happy.
“Last week I had a good start and then faded away. I had two good rounds and in order to do well you need to get three good rounds with maybe one round were it is just okay – so there is a long way to go.
“The course is not as easy as it was last week but if you play well here you can go very low because it is not that long and you can hit a lot of wedge shots. But at the same time the greens are tricky, there is a lot of rough and I think it not easy. 
“It is going to be interesting as there is so much to play for and of course I am happy with the start I had so I will look forward to trying to keep it going.”
One shot adrift of Pavan is Damien Perrier who carried on his hot streak after winning his maiden Challenge Tour title in the Czech Republic last week.

The Frenchman, who is currently eighth in the Road to Oman Rankings, birdied his last two holes to sit tied for second place with Germany's Alexander Knappe and Spain’s Pep Angles – who came back from a double bogey at the first to reach four under par.  
Two shots adrift of Pavan is Espen Kofstad, whose eagle two on 18 helped the Norwegian reach three under par – where he is joined by ten others.
LEADING SCORES
Par 71
66 A Pavan (Ita)
67 A Knappe (Ger), D Perrier (Fra), P Anges (Spa).

SCOTS' SCORES
71 P Whiteford, D Law, D Stewart (T39)
72 C Doak (T55)
75 P Shields (T113)
76 J Doherty, R Kellett (T124)
Field of 156 players 

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Warren, Henry co-leaders at Nordea Masters

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
French rookies Clément Berardo and Sébastien Gros were part of a six-way tie for the lead as Lee Westwood made an excellent start in his bid to win a record fourth Nordea Masters today.
Berardo, who came through Qualifying School and has already finished third in Morocco during an impressive rookie campaign, recorded a remarkable nine birdies at Bro Hof Slott, Sweden on his way to a five under par 67.
That was matched by compatriot Gros, England’s Andrew Johnston, Germany’s Florian Fritsch and Scottish pair Scott Henry and Marc Warren on a tightly packed leaderboard.

Former World Number One Westwood is among those a shot further back and expects to be back in the winner's circle soon.

The 43 year old came into the event on the back of a disappointing result in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club, where he went into the final round two shots off the lead but struggled to a closing 76.
However, having finished second in the Masters Tournament and tenth in the Irish Open in his previous two starts, Westwood believes a 24th European Tour title could be just around the corner.
"Obviously it's nice to come back to places you've won on before, but I'm more happy with the fact that I'm starting to hit the ball really well and seeing the flight on the shots that I like and on the greens I rolled the ball really well today," Westwood said after a round containing six birdies and two bogeys.
Westwood won his first European Tour title in Sweden in 1996 and also tasted success in 2000 and 2012, as well as finishing runner-up in 2001.
The last of those wins came at this week's venue and a repeat performance from the nine-time Ryder Cup player would make him the first to win the event four times, with Colin Montgomerie and Seve Ballesteros having also won on three occasions. Johnston, who won the Open de España in April and qualified for his US Open debut on Monday, carded five birdies and no bogeys in his 67, while Berardo fired nine birdies, four bogeys and just five pars.
“I’m thrilled,” said Johnston. “I played really solid golf from tee to green and managed to hole a few putts, so I’m delighted.
“I didn’t really have too much in the way of expectations this week because Wentworth was such a buys week, then I had the US Open qualifier on Monday so I was a bit tired when I got here.”
Fritsch, who refuses to fly and so has only managed one European Tour and three Challenge Tour starts so far this season, was pleased with his bogey-free round.
“I just have to make some complicated journeys but for the most part it’s fine,” he said. “I actually quite like it sometimes, because you get to see parts of Europe you wouldn’t otherwise see. I see it as a bit of an adventure.”
SCOREBOARD
par 72
 

T1	Clement Berardo	67
T1	Sebastien Gros	67
T1	Scott Henry	67
T1	Marc Warren	67
T1	Andrew Johnston*	67
T1	Florian Fritsch*	67
T7	Matthew Fitzpatrick	68
T7	Mikko Ilonen	68
T7	Lee Westwood*	68
T7	Ross Fisher*	68
T7	Alexander Bjork*	68
T7	Matt Wallace*	68
T7	Niclas Fasth*	68
T7	Joel Sjoholm*	68
T15	Richard S. Johnson	69
T15	Thomas Bjorn	69
T15	Alex Noren	69
T15	Richard Green*	69
T15	Haydn Porteous*	69
T15	Robert Karlsson*	69
T15	Soren Hansen*	69
T15	Michael Hoey*	69
T15	Christofer Blomstrand*	69
T15	Callum Shinkwin*	69
T15	Thomas Linard*	69
T15	Bjorn Akesson*	69
T27	Jens Dantorp	70
T27	Raphael Jacquelin	70
T27	Prom Meesawat	70
T27	Joakim Lagergren	70
T27	Joachim B. Hansen	70
T27	Oliver Wilson	70
T27	Nicolas Colsaerts	70
T27	Romain Wattel	70
T27	Kristoffer Broberg	70
T27	James Morrison	70
T27	Rikard Karlberg*	70
T27	Scott Hend*	70
T27	Soomin Lee*	70
T27	Julien Quesne*	70
T27	Ashun Wu*	70
T27	Jose-Filipe Lima*	70
T27	Paul Dunne*	70
T27	David Dixon*	70
T45	Chris Paisley	71
T45	Bjorn Hellgren	71
T45	Gary Boyd	71
T45	Magnus A. Carlsson	71
T45	Renato Paratore	71
T45	Daniel Brooks	71
T45	Alvaro Quiros	71
T45	Marcus Svensson	71
T45	Tyrrell Hatton	71
T45	Peter Lawrie	71
T45	Craig Lee	71
T45	Fabrizio Zanotti*	71
T45	Jean Hugo*	71
T45	Jeff Karlsson*	71
T45	Scott Jamieson*	71
T45	Malcolm Kokocinski*	71
T45	Jbe' Kruger*	71
T45	Johan Edfors*	71
T63	Sebastian Soderberg	72
T63	Jeff Winther	72
T63	Jorge Campillo	72
T63	David Lipsky	72
T63	Matteo Manassero	72
T63	Michael Jonzon	72
T63	Henrik Stenson*	72
T63	Richard McEvoy*	72
T63	Mike Lorenzo-Vera*	72
T63	Terry Pilkadaris*	72
T63	Lasse Jensen*	72
T63	Justin Walters*	72
T63	Ryan Evans*	72
T63	Chris Hanson*	72
T63	Zander Lombard*	72
T63	Hannes Ronneblad*	72
T79	Steven Jeppesen	73
T79	Ross McGowan	73
T79	Paul Lawrie	73
T79	Johan Carlsson	73
T79	James Robinson	73
T79	Philip Eriksson	73
T79	Daniel Gaunt	73
T79	Seve Benson	73
T79	Andrew McArthur	73
T79	Pelle Edberg	73
T79	Graeme Storm	73
T79	Laurie Canter	73
T79	Jack Senior	73
T79	Oliver Fisher*	73
T79	Felipe Aguilar*	73
T79	Stephen Gallacher*	73
T79	Nino Bertasio*	73
T79	Morten Orum Madsen*	73
T79	Tjaart Van der Walt*	73
T79	Mark Foster*	73
T79	Francesco Laporta*	73
T79	Ben Evans*	73
T79	Jason Scrivener*	73
T102	Adrian Otaegui	74
T102	Ricardo Gouveia	74
T102	Gregory Havret	74
T102	Mathias Johansson	74
T102	Shiv Kapur	74
T102	Eduardo De La Riva	74
T102	Simon Dyson	74
T102	Scott Arnold	74
T102	Richard Bland*	74
T102	Lucas Bjerregaard*	74
T102	Benjamin Hebert*	74
T102	Jamie McLeary*	74
T102	Oscar Bergqvist*	74
T102	Estanislao Goya*	74
T102	Robert Rock*	74
T102	Edoardo Molinari*	74
T102	Mikael Lundberg*	74
T119	Nacho Elvira	75
T119	Dimitrios Papadatos	75
T119	Lukas Nemecz	75
T119	Daniel Gavins*	75
T119	Sam Walker*	75
T119	Jeev Milkha Singh*	75
T119	Stuart Manley*	75
T119	Nicolo Ravano*	75
T119	Marcus Larsson*	75
T128	Jens Fahrbring	76
T128	Roope Kakko	76
T128	Bradley Dredge	76
T128	Brett Rumford	76
T128	Daniel Chopra	76
T128	Ryan Fox	76
T128	Borja Virto*	76
T128	Ulrich Van Den Berg*	76
T128	Pontus Widegren*	76
T128	Alexander Wennstam*	76
T128	Max Orrin*	76
T139	Rhys Davies	77
T139	Marcus Kinhult	77
T139	Alejandro Canizares	77
T139	Simon Khan	77
T139	Jeung-hun Wang	77
T139	Eddie Pepperell	77
T139	Robert Dinwiddie	77
T139	Tom Lewis*	77
T147	Daniel Im	78
T147	Y.E. Yang*	78
T147	Paul Peterson*	78
T150	Steve Webster	79
T150	Pablo Larrazabal*	79
T152	Andrew Dodt	80
T152	George Murray*	80
T154	Peter Hanson	81
T154	Matthew Baldwin*	81
156	Thomas Pieters	72
-	Jin Jeong	-
* player started on back nine.

USGA, R&A study: Driving distance 

not on the rise

Golf Channel Digital

The USGA and R&A have released the findings of a joint study which concluded that, despite the seemingly increased prevalence of ultra-long tee shots, driving distance is not on the rise in the professional game.
The study looked at driving distance across seven different professional circuits. It concluded that from 2003-15, distance off the tee rose slightly on four circuits (US PGA Tour, US PGA Champions (Seniors) Tour, Web.com Tour and European Tour). That increase, though, was nominal - reportedly only 0.2 yards per year, or a 1 percent increase.
Additionally, three of the tours (Japan Golf Tour, LPGA and Ladies' European Tour) actually saw driving distance decrease slightly over the same period.
The study also found that distribution of driving distances across the US PGA Tour and European Tour have remained proportional: the 10 longest hitters are 7 percent longer than their respective tour's average, while the 10 shortest hitters are 6 percent shorter than average.
The US PGA Tour and European Tour data came from "measured" driving holes, which are typically two holes per tournament. The study indicated that a vast majority of players used drivers on those holes (97 percent for European Tour, 94 percent for the USPGA Tour). The study found that 28.94 percent of US PGA Tour drives went more than 300 yards in 2015, while the figure for European Tour drives was 28.42 percent.
For comparison, the percentage of 300-plus yard drives in 2003 was 26.56 percent on the US PGA Tour and 26.14 percent on the European Tour.
The study also found that launch conditions for a US PGA Tour drive are similar to what they were several years ago. The average measured US PGA Tour drive in 2015 featured a clubhead speed of 113.2 mph, a ball speed of 167.7 mph, a launch angle of 10.8 degrees and a spin rate of 2599 RPM.
For comparison, the average US PGA Tour drive in 2007 featured a clubhead speed of 112.4 mph, a ball speed of 165.4 mph, a launch angle of 10.8 degrees and a spin rate of 2814 RPM.

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Latham leads English senior championship  by seven with a round to go   Lincolnshire’s Richard Latham will take a seven shot lead into tomorrow’s final round of the English senior men’s championship at Kirby Muxloe in Leicestershire. The 2013 champion consolidated his position at the top of the leaderboard today with level par 71 in his second round at Rothley Park and is four-under for the championship. Meanwhile his closest first round challengers dropped back as cold temperatures and strong winds took their toll – and, in the case of Nigel Chesters, the effects of a migraine. Their place has been taken by three tough campaigners: 2009 champion Chris Reynolds (Littlestone), and the internationals Andrew Stracey (Denham) and David Niven (Goring & Streatley) who are all three over for 36 holes. They were all on solid form, with Reynolds and Stracey returning one over 72 at Rothley Park, while Niven mounted a successful salvage operation for two-over 73 at Kirby Muxloe. One shot behind them is David Nelson (Northenden) who added 74 to his opening 72. But it was Latham (pictured top), the general manager at Woodhall Spa, who controlled the scoring today – and his only disappointment was a three-putt bogey on the last hole. However, he had plenty to cheer about earlier in the round, including a rapid start with a birdie on the fourth and a chip-in eagle two on the driveable fifth. “That was a bonus!” he remarked. He dropped a few shots around the turn and counted the cost of a bad bounce, but added: “I had a lot of good things happen so I mustn’t complain. It was a good round and I played solid.” Tomorrow Latham will aim to add a second title to his 2013 triumph and he commented: “I’m looking forward to it. I shall get stuck in and do my best, just keep doing what I’m doing.” The chasing pack may be seven shots back but David Niven summed up the approach when he said:   “It’s good to be up there somewhere. I shall try and hang on tomorrow – you never know what’s going to happen.” Today, he started on the back foot, feeling a bit tight and swinging a little too fast and, after four holes he was three-over. But a good back nine of two-under rescued his score. “I found the groove and was pleased to salvage a score after not getting off to a good start,” he said afterwards. Niven, who has had top four finishes in this event for the past two years, had much praise for the course and particularly the greens.  “The greens are beautiful. They have done a fantastic job to present the course, it’s outstanding,” he said. Former Brabazon champion Charlie Banks (Stanton on the Wolds) and senior international Alan Mew (Stoneham) joined Latham with the best scores of the day with level par 71 at Rothley Park. Banks is currently tied sixth while Mew shares 14th place. Nigel Chesters (Hawkstone Park) was in joint second place after the first round but played today with the additional handicap of a migraine, commenting: “I couldn’t focus on the greens to read the putts.” He managed 77 and is currently tied sixth. After today’s round the field was cut to the leading 80 players and ties. A total of 85 players made the cut on 157 to play tomorrow’s final round at Kirby Muxloe. Click here for full scores. Images © Leaderboard Photography Lyndsey Hewison Press Officer England Golf pr@englandgolf.org 07825 752 193