Jonathan Yates produced some scintillating golf on his second Alps Tour outing of the season to sit just two shots off the pace after day one of the Red Sea Little Venice Open.
The Naas professional fired four birdies and an eagle in a near perfect round of golf to get to six-under par, good enough for a share of fifth after a day of hot scoring on Sunday.
The scoring was so good that Peter Dallat’s six birdies in a four-under par 68 was only good enough for a tie for 22nd heading into day two.
Indeed, the field were taking Sokhna Golf Club apart with Castleknock’s David Carey another to enjoy a fine start in carding five birdies amongst his 69 strokes on day one.
West Waterford’s Gary Hurley posted the same number as he looks to build on a top-10 finish last week. Galway’s Ronan Mullarney is just inside the top-60 after returning a solid one-under par 71 while Michael Dallat will see better days after slumping to a 79.
Italian Giulio Castagnara heads the leaderboard in Egypt at eight-under par after taking advantage of ideal scoring conditions on the opening day.
“The weather was great,” he said. “Sunny and just a little wind. Perfect conditions. I really like the course and was able to get off to a good start with a birdie on the first.”
Out in 31 and home in 33 saw Castagnara race to the clubhouse in 64 after a proper ball-striking performance that sets the standard in Cairo.
“I really hit the ball solid,” he added. “Gave myself a lot of opportunities and then of course made a lot of putts. Today was a great round. I finished ninth at the Ein Bay Open last week which was a good start to the year and nice to see results right away after all the hard work put in over the winter. Hopefully I can keep this up over the next couple of days.”
The second round tees off at 7:00 am local time Monday from tees 1 and 10. The forecast is to be partly sunny but with the possibility of a couple of showers in the afternoon.
Full scoring HERE
Leave a comment