It was a poor showing from the Irish contingent as John Axelsen posted a bogey-free eight under par round of 64 to claim the first round lead of the Big Green Egg German Challenge powered by VcG at Wittelsbacher Golfclub.
With six in the field, hopes were high that one of the Irish would challenge for honours this week, particularly with Dermot McElroy in fine form of late, Liam Nolan making his second professional start, and Conor O’Rourke showing promise, but rounds of +1 from McElroy and Nolan were as good as it got, and O’Rourke and Mark Power were two shots further back on +3.
Jonathan Caldwell shot a round of six-over, while John Murphy’s struggles continued and he’s set to have the weekend off once again.
Dane Axelsen made five birdies on his front nine to make the turn at five under before three more gains coming in put him in pole position on eight under, one ahead of Frenchman Oihan Guillamoundeguy in second.
The 26-year-old was delighted to go low in Germany and credited his accuracy of the tee as being paramount to success around the parkland layout in Neuburg an der Donau.
“I’m very pleased with my performance today,” he said. “It’s not an easy course and it was great to make the turn at five under par. I focused on keeping the ball in play on the back nine and managed to get it to eight under.
“I hit my driver well today and the misses I did have were not too bad. I made sure to be conservative on some of the tougher holes and that meant I was able to keep bogeys off the scorecard. I took advantage of my drives to hit it close with my wedges and luckily a few putts rolled in too.”
Axelsen, currently 73rd on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, is hoping to continue his strong recent form to climb the Rankings with just seven events left before the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A.
“My game is feeling great at the moment and it’s heading in the right direction,” he said. “I’m getting better each week and I’ve had some good results in recent weeks. I’m pleased to see myself climbing the Rankings because the first half of the year was tough for me.
“I hope to get a little bit closer to that top 20 and then I can reassess my targets for the season. I’m trying to keep expectations low and take it one round at a time because that seems to be when I play my best golf.”
South African Robin Williams eagled his final hole to move into a share of third on six under par alongside countryman Deon Germishuys, Poland’s Alejandro Pedryc and England’s Josh Hilleard, while Italian Gregorio De Leo is a shot further back in seventh.
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