SHINKWIN CLICKETY-CLICKS TO LEAD

KLM OPEN WITH SIX-UNDER 66

Callum Shinkwin carded a superb six under par 66 to take a one stroke lead after the opening round of the 100^th edition of the KLM Open.

The Englishman sits 126th in the Race to Dubai Rankings Presented by Rolex and 446th in the Official World Golf Rankings, but belied his status to lead a large chasing pack at The International.

The 26-year-old reached the turn in 32 courtesy of an eagle, three birdies and one dropped shot before a blemish free back nine - which included two gains - help him to the top of the leaderboard.

Malaysian Gavin Green made a trademark fast start to finish on five under, with Shinkwin’s playing partner Swede Per Langfors carding 67 to sit alongside Scot Marc Warren, Dane Nicolai Højgaard, and Englishmen Chris Paisley, Sam Horsfield and Matthew Southgate at five under.

The 2017 Masters Tournament champion Sergio Garcia led a group of eight players one shot further adrift at four under after signing for a bogey-free 68 on a low scoring morning in the Netherlands.

Defending champion Wu Ashun was one of ten players at three under par, including two time KLM Open winner and playing partner Joost Luiten, who came home in a remarkable 30 after carding his opening front nine in three over.

Player Quotes

Callum Shinkwin: “My golf as of late has not been great, as has my health as well, but the golf... is still not there, still very uncomfortable but I managed to turn it round today and shoot a good round of 66.

“I caught food poisoning back in Sweden - it can happen anywhere - but I caught it there and couldn't get up on that Friday morning and then I've had a bit of a bad back as well. My back went last week and I thought the best thing to do it to walk in and basically have the weekend off and recover.

“Just working hard really. Been down the range, working on what I needed to work on. I wasn't hitting the ball very well, that's probably why the back wasn't great but I'm just working hard and if I'm feeling uncomfortable then that means I'm doing the right things.”

Sergio Garcia: “It was nice. Obviously, the conditions got a little bit trickier in the last six or seven holes with the wind picking up a little bit. Before that it was quite nice, so I am happy with that.

“The experience yesterday wasn’t very good in the pro-am with the rain and my neck was a little bit stiff, but we are playing through it and hopefully it won’t creep up on me throughout the week. The course is nice, the greens are very nice and rolling at a nice speed, so it is a good-looking golf course with big greens and a lot of movement.

“I need a little bit more of the same thing I did today. Just keep working on the confidence and keep working hard like I have been doing, and hopefully I will have a chance this week.”

Joost Luiten: “I felt like my mindset changed a little bit. I was three over after nine and I thought alright, I am just going to go for every flag now, I can’t play safe anymore. I was playing a bit too safe on the front nine and that is where the mistakes came from and started to steer the ball a little bit away from the flags.

“Once you get the birdies going you get in the zone and then you don’t really realise what is going on around you, you just want to make more birdies, and it’s great that it happened. To make six, I created enough chances to make birdies and that is what you need to do on a course like this.”
 

Round one scores

par 72

66 C Shinkwin (Eng) 

67 M Southgate (Eng) , N Højgaard (Denmark) , G Green (Malaysia) , P Langfors (Swe) , C Paisley (Eng) , S Horsfield (Eng) , M Warren (Sco) 

68 J Morrison (Eng) , M Orrin (Eng) , H Porteous (SAf) , S Garcia (Spn) , R Langasque (Fra) , R Caron (Netherlands) , S Jamieson (Sco) , K Kouwenaar  (Netherlands) (am)

69 A Wu (Chn) , J Luiten (Ned) , R Saxton (Netherlands) , M Kieffer (Ger) , S Brown (Eng) , J Veerman (USA) , E De La Riva (Spn) , H Tanihara (Jpn) , K Kitayama (USA) 

70 B Stone (SAf) , M Korhonen (Finland) , A Romero (Arg) , L Johnston (Sco) , L Westwood (Eng) , J Donaldson (Wales) , J McLeod (Australia) , E Molinari (Ita) , N Colsaerts (Bel) , H Leon (Chile) , S Sharma (Ind) , R Karlberg (Swe) , A Rozner (Fra) , V Perez (Fra) , S Kjeldsen (Denmark) , S Crocker (USA) , D Gavins (Eng) , M Penge (Eng) , G Moynihan (Irl) , P Figueiredo (Portugal) , A Karlsson (Swe) 

71 P Dunne (Irel) , W Nienaber (SAf) , S Maurits (Ned) , M Siem (Ger) , L De Jager (SAf) , J Winther (Denmark) , T Pieters (Belgium) , S Gregory (Eng) , N Bertasio (Ita) , T Detry (Belgium) , J Singh Brar (Eng) , L Gagli (Ita) , G Coetzee (SAf) , J Lagergren (Swe) , A Chesters (Eng) , D Lawson (Australia) , P Harrington (Irl) , K Van Der Weele (Netherlands) (am)

72 C Wood (Eng) , D Law (Sco) , G Bhullar (India) , E Kofstad (Norway) , J Wang (Kor) , K Reitan (Norway) , I Cantero Gutierrez (Spn) , L Jensen (Denmark) , W Besseling (Netherlands) , D Papadatos (Australia) , R Gouveia (Portugal) , A Bland (Australia) , M Pavon (Fra) , E Walker (Sco) , M Lafeber (Netherlands) , M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) , B Dredge (Wales) , P Reed (USA) 

73 R Ramsay (Sco) , N Cullen (Aus) , N Lemke (Swe) , T Immelman (SAf) , J McDonald (Sco) , T Merritt (USA) , P Oriol (Spn) , R Wattel (Fra) , B Evans (Eng) , A Saddier (Fra) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , S Manley (Wales) , M Nixon (Eng) , G Fernandez-Castaño (Spn) , D Drysdale (Sco) , T Murray (Eng) , B Geurts  (Netherlands) (am)

 
74 S Chawrasia (India) , R Van West (Netherlands) , M Toorop (Netherlands) , J Dantorp (Swe) , L Slattery (Eng) , F Zanotti (Paraguay) , J Girrbach (Switz) , C Blomstrand (Swe) , Y Miyazato (Jpn) , N McCarthy (Eng) , B Reuter (Netherlands) (am)

 75 M Reynolds (Netherlands) , K Johannessen (Norway) , G Forrest (Sco) , B Henson (USA) , M Hoey (N Ireland) , S Soderberg (Swe) , H Endycott (Australia) , R Jacquelin (Fra) , D Stewart (Sco) , O Fisher (Eng) , M Campbell (NZ) , C Sordet (Fra) , B Rumford (Australia) , M Wallace (Eng) , S Hend (Australia), H Park (S Korea) , Z Lombard (SAf)

 76 J Van Zyl (SAf) , J Olazábal (Spn), S Valimaki (Finland) , M Schmitt (Ger) , A Connelly (Canada)

 77 D Howell (Eng) , K Koivu (Finland) , M Kaymer (Ger) , D Boshart (Netherlands) , L Keunen (Netherlands) , D Horsey (Eng)

78 J Van Der Vaart (Netherlands) , S Kim (USA) , R Karlsson (Swe) , J Ballesteros (Spn) , M Manassero (Ita) , J Catlin (USA) , A Cañizares (Spn) , D Hillier (NZ)

 79 J Kunzenbacher (Ger) , J Campillo (Spn) , D Borda (Spn) , J Choi (S Korea) , D Antonisse (am) (Netherlands)

 80 M Albertus (Netherlands)
 

84 D Porsius (Netherlands)

85 E Lopez-Chacarra (Spn) (am)