Dermot McElroy posted an impressive bogey-free five under par round of 66 to set the pace after round one of The Dutch Futures.
The Ballymena man, starting on the first, made three birdies on the front nine to turn in 32. Seven straight pars followed on the back before he closed out his round with back-to-back gains, which included a hole out on the par five 18th.
The 32-year-old, who sits one shot clear at the top of the leaderboard, was pleased with his first round effort in testing conditions at The Dutch.
“It was very tricky out there today,” he said. “I think there were only two holes, one into the wind and one downwind, the rest were crosswind, so it was quite tricky.
“The front nine was reasonably calm but, as I say, there were a lot of crosswinds, and it was quite gusty.
“It was hard to tell if it was slightly into or slightly down, which caught me out a couple of times, especially with the wedge shots.”
McElory has missed three consecutive cuts on the Road to Mallorca and currently sits 94th in the Rankings with six events to play before the Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A.
However, after starting the week positively in the Netherlands, the Northern Irishman is optimistic about his changes heading into the latter stages of the season.
“A good week here would be huge,” he added.
“To be honest, I’ve played terrible all year barring one good result. I’ve been practicing really hard all season, and I’m really pleased with how I am starting to hit the ball.”
“I think I did everything well out there today. I drove the ball well and my iron play was good. I only missed a couple of greens and managed to get up and down.”
Frenchman Nathan Legendre and Scot Euan Walker sit one shot back on four under par. Spanish duo Lucas Vacarisas and Santiago Tarrio, French pair Maxence Giboudot and Andoni Etchenique, New Zealander Sam Jones, German Tiger Christensen, the UAE’s Joshua Grenville-Wood and South African Daniel van Tonder all sit at three under par.
With a total of 10 Irishmen in the field, McElroy is the only one in red figures with Alex Maguire, Max Kennedy, Liam Nolan and Jack Madden all sharing 38th at level-par, while Jonathan Caldwell, John Murphy and Daniel Mulligan are a shot further adrift and tied for 58th, just above the provisional cutline.
That means Paul McBride (+3) and Robert Moran (+4) will likely need rounds in the 60s at minimum if they’re to make it through to play the weekend.
The second round of The Dutch Futures gets under way at 7:30am local time with McElroy teeing off alongside France’s Julien Sale and Spain’s Alvaro Hernandez Cabezuela at 1:40pm.
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