Paul Dunne continued his love-affair with the Made in Denmark tournament in posting a 68 to be just two shots off the lead on the opening day of the event near Aalborg.
Dunne dealt with the bright but very breezy conditions well, producing four birdies in his opening eight holes, including three in succession from his fifth on the par-71 Himmerland course.
The Greystones golfer ended the day just outside the top-10 with five sharing the lead after 66’s set the standard courtesy of English trio Paul Waring, Matthew Southgate and Tom Murray along with Italian Edoardo Molinari and Spaniard Alejandro Canizares.
Defending Denmark champ Matt Wallace is among six sharing sixth place and just a shot back, with Wallace having stamped his growing credentials on a very noisy world stage in finishing joint third last Sunday behind Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship.
“It’s all going in the right direction,” said Wallace. “I’m working hard for it, it’s not like it’s just come randomly.
“There’s more bits that I want to work on, there’s bits I want to improve at. There’s a long way to go for the rest of the year and I haven’t won yet so it’s important to me to try and get that and try and do that this week.”
Dunne meanwhile arrived into Denmark with a pair of strong showings in the event including a T10th on debut in 2016 and a T14th a year later.
And Dunne’s 68 was matched by Belfast’s Michael Hoey who continued his good form with a round that included a fifth hole eagle ’3’ and birdies at 11, 14 and 16.
Mt. Juliet-attached Gavin Moynihan produced a classic chalk-and-cheese two nines, out in 32 thanks to three birdies but horribly home in 42 with four bogeys and a double to lie in a share of 123rd at plus-three.
Meanwhile, Dane Martin Simonsen earned himself and his caddy a ‘flashy’ new golf buggy with an ace at the 96-yard par-3 16th and playing on an invitation.
He said: “That was amazing. All Danish players especially dream about making a hole-in-one over there. There’s no place I’d rather do it than here. I’m very, very pleased.
“I knew I had to give it a good go because of the wind and everything and I managed, it made it six feet past and spun back in.
“I have four holes-in-one now in tournament golf but it’s the first time I’ve won anything.”
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