RIU GOES TWO CLEAR AS THE UKRAINE HOSTS FIRST BIG TOURNEY
CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT
Victor
Riu took inspiration from his playing partner and Ukrainian football
legend Andriy Shevchenko as the Frenchman’s course-record eight under
par 64 earned him a two shot lead after the
opening day of the inaugural Kharkov Superior Cup.
The
28 year old, a winner on the European Challenge Tour already this year,
was drawn alongside the former European Footballer of the Year and
American Brinson Paolini as Ukraine hosted its
first major professional golf tournament.
While
a plethora of journalists and TV crews gathered to watch Shevchenko
make his Challenge Tour debut, it was another man in the group who stole
the limelight with a near flawless round at
the stunning Superior Golf and Spa Resort.
His
round caught fire at the fourth hole as the Parisian eagled the
reachable par five before following that with successive birdies at the
fifth and sixth. His only mistake of the round came
at the seventh as an aggressive approach to the long par five cost him a
shot, but a birdie at the ninth took him to the turn in four under
before four more birdies on the way home launched him to the summit.
Riu
admitted that he is not a football fan but was buoyed on by the jovial
mood and constant encouragement from the former AC Milan and Chelsea
striker, who is regarded as one of Ukraine’s best
ever footballers.
“I'm
very happy today,” said Riu, who won the Swiss Challenge in July and
currently sits fifth in the Challenge Tour Rankings. “I played really
well and my putter was on fire, I holed a lot
of putts. That was surprising because it’s not very easy to read the
greens.
“I
am not a big fan of football so I didn’t really know much about Andriy
but it was great to play with him. There were a lot of people watching.
“He
was great. Every time I holed a putt he shook my hand or gave me a high
five, he was really pushing me on to play better and cheering me when I
made birdies so that was a really big help
for me. I did put it up on Facebook that I was playing with him and it
got a lot of responses so I knew it was a big deal!
“I'm feeling confident now with my game and I'm really relaxed so I hope this continues for the next three rounds.”
Shevchenko
carded a 12 over par 84 and admitted that his putting had let him down
but overall was delighted with the day, especially being in such
esteemed company as the tournament leader.
“I'm
so happy to have played with two really nice guys today,” said the 36
year old. “To play with Victor and see him shoot a course record and
play fantastic golf was great. I learned so much
about the game from the two guys.
“It’s
a completely different game when you are under pressure but I really
enjoyed it still and I'm so happy to be at this tournament, even if my
scoring didn’t go so well. It’s a great experience
for me.”
Sihwan
Kim was two shots behind Riu as the Korean signed for a six under par
round of 66, which included just a single bogey. Phillip Archer of
England and Dane Lucas Bjerregaard were a shot
further back on five under par while there were six players on four
under par.
FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
64 V Riu (Fra) ,
66 S Kim (Kor) ,
67 P Archer (Eng) , L Bjerregaard (Den) ,
68 D Stewart (Sco) , M Crespi (Ita) , M Haastrup (Den) , T Pilkadaris (Aus) , S Tiley (Eng) , C Russo (Fra) ,
69 S Manley (Wal) , J Lando Casanova (Fra) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , A Domingo (Esp) , B An (Kor) , J Glennemo (Swe) ,
70 F De Vries (Ned) , A Otaegui (Esp)
, A Pavan (Ita) , C Aguilar (Esp) , D Vancsik (Arg) , G Cambis (Fra) ,
N Elvira (Esp) , J Abbott (Eng) , D Huizing (Ned) , L Kennedy (Eng) ,
J Fahrbring (Swe) ,
71 N Lemke (Swe) , D Ulrich (Sui) , C
Ford (Eng) , G Stal (Fra) , T Murray (Eng) , A Bernadet (Fra) , G Shaw
(Nir) , T Nørret (Den) , F Calmels (Fra) , J Barnes (Eng) , R Davies
(Wal) , E Dubois (Fra) ,
72 G Houston (Wal) , J Huldahl (Den) , M
Glauert (Ger) , G Murray (Sco) , J Dantorp (Swe) , A McArthur (Sco) ,
L Saltman (Sco) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , P Maddy (Eng) , P Figueiredo
(Por) , N Ravano (Ita) , J Elson (Eng) , J Guerrier
(Fra) , P Oriol (Esp) , B Hebert (Fra) ,
73 D Wuensche (Ger) , N Quintarelli
(Ita) , D Brooks (Eng) , M Brier (Aut) , P Widegren (Swe) , R Russell
(Sco) , A Rota (Ita) , M Haines (Eng) ,
74 T
Fournier (Fra) , N Dougherty (Eng) , D Im (USA) , D Gaunt (Aus) , J
Carlsson (Swe) , F Bergamaschi (Ita) , J Lima (Por) , W Booth (Sco) , T
Pulkkanen (Fin) , J Timmis (Eng) , O Wilson (Eng) , S Walker (Eng) , J
McLeary (Sco)
, A Velasco (Esp) , M Rominger (Sui) , B Chapellan (Fra) ,
75 D
Perrier (Fra) , R Enoch (Wal) , O Bekker (RSA) , D Kemmer (USA) , D
Palm (Swe) , L Claverie (Esp) , R Steiner (Aut) , P Edberg (Swe) , L
Goddard (Eng) , K Borsheim (Nor) ,
76 A Johnston (Eng) , R Saxton (Ned) , A Gee (Eng) , S Hutsby (Eng) , P Dwyer (Eng) , J Heath (Eng) ,
77 T
Sluiter (Ned) , B Paolini (USA) , C Rodiles (Esp) , F Colombo (Ita) , S
Arnold (Aus) , K Ferrie (Eng) , A Perrino (Ita) , A Rajmont (Cze) ,
78 B Parker (Eng) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , J Senior (Eng) , H Bacher (Aut) ,
79 R Wechgelaer (Ned) , M Nichols (Eng) , C Del Moral (Esp) , R Garkavenko (Ukr) ,
80 Y Kafelnikov (Rus) , J Reiss (Eng) , J Mommo (Fin) , D Geminiani (Ita) ,
82 N Floren (Swe) , D Frittelli (RSA) ,
83 R Kellett (Sco) ,
84 A Korinek (Cze) , Z Stirn (am) (Slo) , A Shevchenko (am) (Ukr) ,
86 C Brazillier (Fra) , F Karhapolov (am) (Ukr) ,
87 M Kelly (Irl) ,
88 V Ostankov (Rus) ,
91 A Babich (am) (Ukr) ,
92 I Mouchan (am) (Ukr) ,
94 K Lachin (Rus) , R Kobitev (am) (Ukr) ,
95 D Semenihin (am) (Rus) ,
99 P Volkolup (Ukr) ,
109 P Japol (Pol) ,
Labels: CHALLENGE TOUR
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