Tom McKibbin would be forgiven for lacking sharpness after making the return trip across the Atlantic following his maiden major championship appearance at Pinehurst, but with two Open Championship spots up for grabs at the KLM Dutch Open at The International Club in Amsterdam, there were plenty of incentives for him to take his place in the field.
A scrappy start saw him cover the opening three in one-over, but birdies on four and eight got him back the right side of par before a sloppy double bogey on nine undid much of the good work.
Five pars to start the back nine saw him still sitting at one-over through 14, but he’d finish in style with three birdies in the closing four holes enough to thrust him up to 23rd on the leaderboard.
Gary Hurley, making his first DP World Tour start in more than a year, was among the early starters and got off to a horrible start as he double bogeyed the first, but he steadied the ship thereafter, and traded four birdies with four bogeys and finished the day as he was through one.
Mikko Korhonen added a birdie-birdie finish to a hole-in-one to join Matteo Manassero at the top of the leaderboard after day one.
Manassero had finished a bogey-free 64 with two birdies of his own to set the target at seven under at The International just days after teeing it up in the U.S. Open as his remarkable renaissance continues, but Korhonen – making just his third start of the season – joined him at the summit, one shot clear of Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino.
Italian Manassero won his fifth DP World Tour title earlier this season at the Jonsson Workwear Open, nearly 14 years after becoming the youngest winner in DP World Tour history.
“Very satisfying,” was Manassero’s assessment. “It is a tough course so you need to earn a round like this around here and the conditions obviously helped us, the course is firming up so it is playing a little shorter and the wind never really pumped. So, it was a good day to play some good golf and have a good round but never easy.
“I think I played only two rounds in 2019 and I couldn’t remember that much. I remembered that it was bouncy, I remember some holes and I don’t think the rough was that thick in 19, so the course is playing different and it is playing different in a good way.
“On the weekend I was tired (following the U.S. Open). I didn’t play but it is kind of stressful, and stressful in a good way, because you put all your energy into preparing for the U.S. Open and it beats you up and then you have a drop in adrenalin, so I was a little bit tired, but I am really happy to be playing. The U.S. Open was a really tough experience, but I want to take it for what it is and reset.”
There were 3,942 days between his fourth and fifth wins, a period that saw him take a brief break from the game and go back to the European Challenge Tour.
Last week he was back on the biggest stage at the U.S. Open and while he missed the cut at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, he bounced back in fine style in the Netherlands.
Korhonen is a two-time DP World Tour winner but his appearance at last month’s Soudal Open was his first in over 12 months. It was a memorable day for the Finn who made his ace with an eight iron from 159 yards on the fourth.
Hoshino – playing just his second event since March after suffering a collapsed lung – bogeyed the second and ninth but between made four birdies, the highlight being a tee-shot to tap-in range at the fourth.
American Sean Crocker, Italian Edoardo Molinari, England’s James Morrison and Swede Henrik Norlander were then two shots off the lead.
English duo Ross Fisher and Callum Shinkwin, Italian Filippo Celli and Swede Espen Kofstad were at four under.
Korhonen was not the only player to enjoy a hole-in-one on day one, Malaysia’s Gavin Green holed a five iron from 222 yards at the 17th.
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