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Thomson finds form with an eight-under-par 64

 

Round One Report

Jonathan Thomson shrugged off his poor early season form to storm into the first-round lead at the Made in Denmark, where Ryder Cup hopefuls Thorbjørn Olesen, Matt Fitzpatrick and Eddie Pepperell endured mixed fortunes at this, the final qualifying event to gain an automatic place in Thomas Bjørn’s European Team to face the USA in Paris in four weeks’ time.

Thomson stormed out of the blocks at the Silkeborg Ry Golf Club to card a fine eight under par opening effort of 64 to take a two-shot lead over Matt Baldwin, Christian Bezuidenhout, Lukas Bjerregaard, Josh Geary and Brett Rumford.

While Thomson was forging his way to the top of the leaderboard, the Ryder Cup subplot at the Made in Denmark began to develop in earnest.
Olesen made a fast start in his bid to retain the eighth and final automatic qualifying spot to Bjørn’s team. The 28 year old Dane needs to finish in a tie for seventh place with one other player or better to guarantee a Ryder Cup debut.
One under through three holes, Olesen looked to be in control but lost momentum and dropped four strokes before two birdies in his last three holes saved the round and saw the Dane finish on one over par.
The two men who can pass Olesen to qualify for the Ryder Cup Team – the English duo of Matt Fitzpatrick and Eddie Pepperel – both need to win this week. Pepperel, playing with Bjørn, matched the Ryder Cup Captain’s two under 70; while Fitzpatrick had to settle for a level par 72.
Fitzpatrick was playing alongside Ryder Cup Vice Captain Robert Karlsson, a man who had reason to celebrate his first round in Denmark as he became the first Swedish player (and only the 11^th player in history) to reach the landmark achievement of 600 European Tour appearances.
Player Quotes:
Jonathan Thomson (-8): “It’s fantastic to get off to a great start for a change. I have been playing some great golf recently but not scoring, so to get off to a low scoring start today was great. This is my first Made in Denmark. This course is a great lay out and a beautiful setting.
“I have been playing well but not scoring. I had a good lesson on iron play in Prague last week and it has really tightened up my iron play and given me more opportunities to give myself more birdie chances. Last week I played fantastic and didn’t hole anything, whereas today I played to a similar level and holed some putts.
“It would be great for me to have a positive result this week. I had a terrible start to the season and really positive result would give me a huge confidence boost going into the rest of the season.”
Eddie Pepperell (-2): “The swing didn't feel at all good at times. I hit some very good shots, the back-to-back five woods (on the 11th and 12th) I'll probably remember for the rest of my life – I might have to retire that club after those two.
“He (Bjørn) has still got it, I enjoy watching Thomas whenever I get the opportunity to play with him and Martin (Kaymer). These guys I've watched on telly for years so I'm beyond the point of nerves playing with these guys and still in awe to a degree.
“It (the Ryder Cup) is probably more an inspiration, I wouldn't say a distraction. I'm still very focused on my game, I don't think it's affected my score today and I don't think it will affect my score moving forward, for the good or for the bad. I've still got to hit good golf shots. I've got to win this golf tournament so if I want to do that I've got to play better than I have done today, I've got to start to feel more comfortable with my swing and that's were all my focus is really lying. It's not really on my mind.”

Thomas Bjørn (-2): “It was a very enjoyable round of golf, but like a typical golfer I still feel i left a few shots out there! But it is obviously a very special week for me playing at my home club and it was great to see so many old friends and faces in the crowd. The reception I got at 18 was very special too. Hopefully I can make to the weekend and play well – it would be great to put on a good performance for the whole week.”

Matt Fitzpatrick (Level par): “I had a fee chances early and felt like I hit the irons solid all day. I had six chances inside 15 feet which is great. You know, I make a few of those putts and all of a sudden I’m under par. But then I made a couple of silly mistakes and finish level. But that’s the nature of the game I suppose.

“My game feels does feel there but it’s just golf – very fine margins. I drove the ball well on the front nine and just putted terribly and then I didn’t really put it in position off the tee on the back nine. I’ll go to the range now and try and figure it out and go low tomorrow.
“I didn’t feel pressure today playing with Robert. Obviously you want to play well in front of the vice Captains but at the same time I don’t think one round will make that much of a difference because we all know what each other is capable of.”
Thorbjørn Olesen (+1): “I didn’t play well today, didn’t have a tempo in my swing. If you play well, there’s a lot of chances out there, but if you don’t play well, it’s a really dificult course, and unfortunately I didn’t play well.
“I was a bit nervous on the first tee, but other than that I felt good out there. Had a few loose drives, so I’m going to work a bit on that, and hopefully do better tomorrow, because like a said, there’s a lot of chances out there.”
Round One Scores
Par 72
64 J Thomson  (Eng)
66 B Rumford (Australia); C Bezuidenhout (SAf); H Stewart (USA); M Baldwin (Eng); L Bjerregaard  (Denmark); J Geary  (NZ)
67 S Fernandez  (Spn); R Evans  (Eng); R Rock (Eng); J Janewattananond (Thailand); E Van Rooyen (SAf); T Detry  (Belgium); R McEvoy  (Eng); S Horsfield (Eng); J Donaldson (Wales)
68 P Khongwatmai (Thailand); M Kinhult (Swe); J Lagergren (Swe); N Colsaerts  (Belgium); P Oriol (Spn); J Norris (Australia); M Wallace (Eng); D Drysdale (Sco); L Westwood (Eng); M Southgate  (Eng)
69 N Møller  (Denmark); N Tinning (Denmark); D Willett  (Eng); G Havret  (Fra); R Ramsay  (Sco); T Pieters  (Belgium); A Chesters  (Eng); F Zanotti (Paraguay); S Vincent (Zimbabwe); P Widegren  (Swe); J Morrison  (Eng); N Højgaard (am) (Denmark).
70 H Sturehed (Swe); S Brown (Eng); T Bjørn (Denmark); E Pepperell (Eng); A Otaegui  (Spn); A Wu (China); N Cullen (Australia); C Hanson (Eng); T Lewis (Eng); H Porteous (SAf); J Walters (SAf); C Koepka (USA); M Warren (Sco); J Smith (Eng).
71 B Neil (Sco); M Calderon (Chile); B Dredge (Wales); M Schwab  (Austria); A Bland (Australia); J Scrivener (Australia); R Gouveia (Portugal); O Fisher  (Eng); E Molinari  (Ita); C Shinkwin (Eng); J Wang (SKor); L Jensen (Denmark); L Canter (Eng); H Tanihara (Jpn); R Sterne  (SAf); P Peterson (USA); G Bourdy (Fra); A Saddier (Fra)
72 A Olsen  (Norway); M Tullo (Chile), T L Aiken (SAf); R Bland (Eng); T Pulkkanen  (Finland); D Lipsky (USA); S Webster (Eng); A Connelly (Canada); J Hansen  (Denmark); Y Miyazato (Jpn); D Brooks (Eng); S Gallacher (Sco); S Brazel (Australia); R Karlsson (Swe); P Hanson (Swe); M Fitzpatrick  (Eng); C Ford (Eng); F Dreier (Denmark); C Blomstrand (Swe); F Aguilar (Chile); P Angles  (Spn); M Millar (Australia).
73 D Horsey (Eng); S Khan (Eng); G Bhullar (India); D Ghim (USA); A Hansen (Denmark); J Dantorp (Swe); T Nørret (Denmark); J Winther (Denmark); R Wattel  (Fra); M Kaymer (Ger); M Armitage (Eng); S Kjeldsen (Denmark); J Guerrier  (Fra); T Olesen (Denmark); J Choi (SKor); M Nixon (Eng); J Kruyswijk (SAf).

74 S Chawrasia (India); M Siem  (Ger); M Jonzon (Swe); R Cho (S Korea); S Gros (Fra); C Sordet  (Fra); M Fraser (Australia); S Heisele (Ger); G Stal  (Fra); Ó Serna (Mexico); G Green  (Malaysia); L Herbert (Australia); R Green (Australia)

75 O Farr (Wales); D Boonma (Thailand); J Blixt  (Swe); D Im (USA); A Sandhu (India); A Cañizares  (Spn); D Burmester (SAf); R Højgaard (am) (Denmark);

76 J Glennemo (Swe); Z Lombard  (SAf); S Lee (S Korea); D Howell (Eng); M Foster (Eng); M Lundberg (Swe); L Slattery (Eng); M Madsen  (Denmark); J Daly (USA)

77 F Fritsch  (Ger); C Syme  (Sco)

78 B Hafthorsson (Ice;amd); J Van Zyl (SAf);

79 S Hend (Australia); J Munro (Australia); A Dodt (Australia);

84 P Gal  (Czech)