Liam Nolan closed out with a birdie on the par-3 ninth at Fontanals Golf Club in Girona to card a four-under 68 that leaves him inside the top 30 on a low-scoring day on the HotelPlanner Tour.
The Galway man was part of the tougher afternoon wave but came out firing, making three birdies in his opening seven holes and made the turn at -3. Another birdie on the par-5 second hole – his 11th – and it appeared as though he was going to carry the momentum through to the finish but he stalled from there, dropping a shot on the fourth and made it to the 18th tee at three-under.
The closing birdie was a nice way to finish the round, and he’ll have the benefit of an early tee time and freshly-rolled greens for round two as he looks to put himself in position for a weekend push.
Mark Power and Gary Hurley are next best at two-under and sharing 64th place, and they’ll have had contrasting emotions in the scoring hut as Power’s round finished with a double bogey whereas Hurley birdied five of the last seven after a shaky start.
Conor Purcell, James Sugrue and Max Kennedy all share 89th at -1, and with similar conditions forecast for round two, they’ll likely need to shoot rounds in the 60s if they’re to have a chance of making it through to the weekend.
Canon Claycomb fired a nine-under round of 63 to take first-round-leader honours.
The American strung together an impressive first round in Girona, finishing the day with eight birdies, an eagle and a solitary bogey to reach top of the leaderboard. Despite a blemish on the par four first, Claycomb bounced back with gains on the fourth, sixth and eighth to go out in 34 strokes, before adding five birdies and an eagle after the turn for a flawless back nine of 29.
“I feel great, my back nine was fantastic,” he said. “I got off to a great start on the back; I eagled 10 and birdied 11 and 12 and shot 29 so I’ll just try to keep the momentum going into tomorrow.
“For the first time in a long time, it felt easy. So hopefully that continues.
“You know, it’s actually funny that I started with a bogey, because one of my best friends from high school would always say that all great rounds start with a bogey.
“I hit a great tee shot on one, hit the green and then three putted, so it wasn’t
Claycomb has had a positive start to his maiden season on the HotelPlanner Tour, including a tied 10th place finish at the CIRCA Cape Town Open, and despite missing the cut at last week’s Italian Challenge Open, he feels positive about his game.
“I felt pretty good coming into this week, I felt like I played decent in Italy last week. It was my first time seeing the golf course for a while and I didn’t have a caddie last week, so having Jack on the bag today helped me. He went through numbers well today and I think that might’ve been a big difference maker already for me this week.”
Englishman Frank Kennedy holds solo second, just one shot behind Claycomb on eight under par, whilst Italy’s Lorenzo Scalise and Switzerland’s Ronan Kleu share third on seven under par.
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