After the circuit’s mid-summer break, Robert Moran returned to Alps Tour action and took up right where he’d left off and shot an opening six-under 66 to sit one off the lead heading into round two.
On the French, Belgian and Luxembourg border, Golf de International Longwy is the venue for the action this week, and Moran made eight birdies on the day, dropping just two shots to end part one of three in a tie for second.
Michael Young is the next best placed of the Irish on -3, one ahead of Paul McBride with Marc Boucher on level-par, Brandon St. John on +1 and James Sugrue on +4.
Unfortunately, Moran who sits just outside the top 10 in the Order of Merit, wasn’t the only one of the season’s top performers to hit the ground running and Frenchman and Order of Merit leader Benjamin Kedochim took it to new levels, making four birdies and an eagle in his opening five holes.
He couldn’t build much higher upon it, however, but his -7 score sees him take sole possession of the lead into the second round.
“I started well today,” said Kedochim. “I made a nice 8-meter putt on the first hole for birdie which made the round easier, which was a good start, on the following 4 holes I had a lot of opportunities, and I was able to take advantage of all of them. Anytime you can be -5 after 5 holes it’s always good and that facilitates the round. There is still 2 days to go so I want to keep my head down and try my best like always. Unfortunately, the only bogey I made was as soon as I made the turn, but it happened. I hit every green, and it was a very nice round overall.”
Moran is part of a nine-way tie for second that includes American Brandon Kewalramani, second in the Order of Merit, but the remaining seven are all below him in the rankings so he’s eyeing a big finish that’ll see him take a step closer to graduating to the Challenge Tour for 2025.
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