Conor Purcell faces an uphill battle if he’s to extend his recent streak of good finishes in his maiden DP World Tour campaign after an opening four-over 75 at the Turkish Airlines Open at Regnum Carya in Antalya.
Back-to-back top-20 finishes have breathed fresh life into the Portmarnock man’s hopes of retaining his DP World Tour card, but he was slow out of the traps after a week off when he returned to action in Turkey. Bogeys on the third and ninth hole were compounded by a triple-bogey-seven on the fifth and he made the turn at +5.
He got himself moving back in the right direction with a nine-footer for birdie on 10 and added another on the par-5 15th, two-putting from distance after finding the green in two, but a loose approach to the last led to another bogey and he ends the day sharing 133rd and four shots off the provisional cut mark.
Tiger Christensen utilised the “good pressure” of being handed a DP World Tour start to grab a share of the first-round lead.
The 21-year-old from Germany predominantly plies his trade on the HotelPlanner Tour but received an invite to tee it up at Regnum Carya and took advantage with a six-under-par 65 to share the lead with France’s Martin Couvra and South Africa’s Robin Williams.
Christensen was one over for his first six holes and level par at the turn, before holing from the fringe at the tenth sparked a run of six consecutive birdies.
“I think we had a good game plan, stayed patient all day,” Christensen said. “I played pretty good on the front nine but just happened to not really get it close enough to the hole, where the putts will drop.
“Then I made a good one from the fringe on ten and it kind of got going and then hit it really close on 11. From there, hit a really good tee shot on the par five, and you got a couple birdie holes up there and then took advantage of the last par five as well to make it six (under).
“I feel good pressure. I definitely enjoy these tournaments a lot.
“I think, bouncing around from HotelPlanner Tour to here, it’s always a lot of fun when we come out here and get the opportunity to play – (I’m) very thankful.
“It’s great nerves, you want to have them, you want to play good, so yeah, definitely feels awesome. It doesn’t do any negative or anything. I’m just happy to be here and try and take advantage of it as good as I can.”
The 22-year-old Couvra graduated from last season’s HotelPlanner Tour and has impressed with four top-ten finishes already in his rookie campaign, including fifth place at the Hainan Classic last time out.
In contrast to Christensen, the Frenchman did most of his good work on the front nine – although he started at the tenth.
A birdie at the par-five 15th was his only deviation from par over the first eight holes before a spectacular hole out from a bunker at the 18th kicked off a hat-trick of gains.
After birdies from 14 feet at the first and seven feet at the second, Couvra produced a superb approach to the fifth for a tap-in gain before his only blemish of the day following a three-putt at the next was cancelled out by closing birdies at the eighth and ninth.
“Pretty happy about this first round,” he said. “I played well all day. Just kept smiling on the course, and that’s it.
“I love this place. You have to be good tee to green, that’s the biggest strength of my game. You need to keep the ball on the fairway and hit some good irons.
“My game is pretty good and my confidence too. I just try to keep a good mindset on the golf course.”
Williams produced six birdies in a flawless round to make a late charge up the leaderboard.
Dutchman Joost Luiten and England’s Brandon Robinson Thompson sit fourth on five under.
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