Conor Purcell finds himself well down the leaderboard as Nicolas Colsaerts recovered from a slow start to share the lead alongside Marcus Armitage and Marcus Kinhult after the first round of the Hero Indian Open.
The Portmarnock man made a bright start and birdied two of his first four holes, but a double on 14 – his fifth – undid the early good work and despite making birdie on 18, three bogeys in a row followed and his scorecard at the end of the day featured five birdies, four bogeys and two doubles, one of which came on his closing hole, to sit on three over par in a tie for 80th.
Colsaerts, a three-time DP World Tour winner, set the target early in the day after signing for a round of 68 despite two bogeys in his opening three holes, before Swede Kinhult and Englishman Armitage joined him at the top of the leaderboard on four under at DLF Golf and Country Club.
The 2023 European Ryder Cup Vice-Captain regained his DP World Tour card for 2025 after finishing second at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship towards the end of last season and he is hoping to kick-start his campaign with a positive result in India this week.
The 42-year-old recorded his first birdie of the day at the fourth and followed that up with another at the sixth. A dropped shot at the seventh followed by back-to-back gains at the eighth and ninth saw him make the turn at one under.
Further birdies arrived at the tenth, 14th and the par five 15th as the Belgian navigated the back nine without dropping a shot to set the target at DLF Golf and Country Club, one of the toughest layouts on the DP World Tour.
Kinhult made an impressive start to his first round with birdies at the first, second and fourth. He made a bogey five at the seventh before bouncing back immediately with a gain at the par five eighth to turn at three under par.
The 2019 Betfred British Masters winner kept his scorecard clean on the way in, which included a birdie at the 15th to grab a share of the lead in New Delhi.
Armitage has made a strong start to the 2025 Race to Dubai, including a fifth place finish at last week’s Porsche Singapore Classic and he was pleased to keep that positive momentum going on day one of the Hero Indian Open – the second of four events on the Asian Swing.
Six-time DP World Tour winner Joost Luiten, home favourite Ajeetesh Sandhu, Frenchman Ugo Coussaud and English trio Ross Fisher, Todd Clements and Matthew Jordan share fourth position on three under par.
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