Edouard Espana got his European Tour Qualifying School Final Stage campaign off to the perfect start as the Frenchman led the field by two thanks to an eight under opening round of 62 at PGA Catalunya Resort, outside Girona in Spain.
Behind the 24 year old is a bevy of top talent on six under par, after a day in which the flat calm conditions and mild temperatures allowed for some low scoring in north eastern Spain.
It has been a strong season for the Bordeaux man, who finished second in the Order of Merit on the satellite Alps Tour thanks to two victories, which included one at the season-ending tour championship less than a month ago.
As a result, Espana has a Challenge Tour card sewn up for 2014, and having advanced through the second stage of qualifying at Valle Romano last week thanks to a tie for fourth place, he sees this week as a great opportunity to show the improvement he has made in his game and make the step-up to The European Tour.
“I started on the tenth today and shot three under for the first nine holes and five under on the back nine,” he said. “It was a very good day, I played very well, stayed focussed and my putting was good so I’m very happy. The Tour course was perfect and really suited my game. It’s a perfect start.
“My second place on the Alps Tour this season gave me a lot of confidence for this tournament, and I won the last tournament of the season so it gave me big boost.
“It is just a great opportunity for me this week, to try and earn a European Tour card. It is a real bonus. My game is progressing all the time, it has been much better this year and I just have to stay patient. That’s the key this week.”
One of the stand-out names two strokes adrift of Espana in a tie for second is two time European Tour winner Richard Finch, who like the Frenchman went bogey free on the Tour Course on Sunday.
Playing six rounds in a week is always going to be a draining experience, but the Englishman has been careful not to wear himself out in the build-up to this event, and he is therefore more than happy with such a strong start.
“I would have happily taken that,” admitted the 2008 Irish Open winner. “It was nice to get out there as the weather was superb with not a breath of wind, and it was great to get a good round on the board to start with and I’ll try and continue that.
“You approach this week the same you would most events, except you try not to do too much and wear yourself into the ground on the practice days. You want to know the courses, know everything about everywhere and do all your research, but you can’t spend days and days walking golf courses and hours and hours on the practice ground.
“You’ve just got to train it before you arrive, trust it and play without thinking too much, then just play one round at a time and go from there.”
Also in the group at six under par is Sweden’s Jens Dantorp, whose 66 was the best round of the day on the par 72 Stadium Course, to finish in a strong position at the end of the opening round.
Also in a tie for second on the same mark as Dantorp are England’s Jamie Elson, America’s Tain Lee, fellow Swede Michael Jonzon and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, all of whom carded their rounds of 64 on the par-70 Tour Course lay-out.
One of the five players a shot further adrift is another two time European Tour winner, Alistair Forsyth. The Scot has a good track record at this event, having won it back in 1999 en route to a European Tour debut the following year.
Scores:
NB – These are collated scores from the par-70 Tour Course and par-72 Stadium Course. Positions in the field may vary.
62 E Espana (Fra) ;
64 M Jonzon (Swe) ; T Pieters (Bel) ; J Elson (Eng) ; R Finch (Eng) ; T Lee (USA) ;
65 J Lagergren (Swe) ; L Bjerregaard (Den) ; W Harrold (Eng) ; D Brooks (Eng) ; A Forsyth (Sco) ;
66 J Barnes (Eng) ; F Zanotti (Par) ; C Hanson (Eng) ; O Stark (Swe) ; A Gee (Eng) ; E Goya (Arg) ; R Karlberg (Swe) ; N Lemke (Swe) ; J Hahn (USA) ; J Dantorp (Swe) ; A McArthur (Sco) ; P Sjöland (Swe) ; A Domingo (Esp) ;
67 D Kemmer (USA) ; A Johnston (Eng) ; M Tullo (Chi) ; J Timmis (Eng) ; G Murray (Sco) ; C Monasterio (Arg) ; A Hartø (Den) ; C Paisley (Eng) ; D Higgins (Irl) ; M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) ; C Del Moral (Esp) ;
68 N Quintarelli (Ita) ; D Stewart (Sco) ; J Doherty (Sco) ; W Besseling (Ned) ; J Watts (Eng) ; J Lucquin (Fra) ; T Whitehouse (Eng) ; H Leon (Chi) ; A Haig (RSA) ; B Dredge (Wal) ; S Manley (Wal) ; T Sluiter (Ned) ; C Shinkwin (am) (Eng) ; D McElroy (am) (Nir) ;
69 D Gavins (Eng) ; D Vancsik (Arg) ; T Linard (Fra) ; M Hensby (Aus) ; W Ormsby (Aus) ; P Hedblom (Swe) ; O Wilson (Eng) ; K Benz (Sui) ; S Wakefield (Eng) ; M Korhonen (Fin) ; N Ravano (Ita) ; L Bond (Wal) ; J Edfors (Swe) ; F Andersson Hed (Swe) ; J Heath (Eng) ; B Stone (RSA) ; M Lundberg (Swe) ;
70 B Paolini (USA) ; D Im (USA) ; J Knutzon (USA) ; R McGee (Irl) ; M Delpodio (Ita) ; R Pettersson (Swe) ; E Kofstad (Nor) ; C Dammert (am) (Ger) ;
71 G Stal (Fra) ; M Wiegele (Aut) ; A Marshall (Eng) ; K Pratt (Aus) ; B Henson (USA) ; M Lafeber (Ned) ; S Hodgson (Eng) ; A Dodt (Aus) ; M Orrin (Eng) ; J Fahrbring (Swe) ; E Cole (USA) ; A Saddier (Fra) ; D McGuigan (Sco) ; B An (Kor) ; J Robinson (Eng) ; M Crespi (Ita) ; G Cambis (Fra) ; T Nørret (Den) ; Z Scotland (Eng) ; B Evans (Eng) ; R Davies (Wal) ; K Ferrie (Eng) ;
72 O Fisher (Eng) ; S Henry (Sco) ; J Morrison (Eng) ; J Fly (USA) ; C Arendell (USA) ; V Phillips (Eng) ; F Fritsch (Ger) ; N Fenwick (Sco) ; O Floren (Swe) ; A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) ; K Horne (RSA) ; J Huldahl (Den) ; I Garrido (Esp) ; C Suneson (Esp) ; P Archer (Eng) ; G Lockerbie (Eng) ; M Zions (Aus) ; T Van Der Walt (RSA) ; G Wright (Wal) ;
73 G Main (USA) ; A Maestroni (Ita) ; P Martin Benavides (Esp) ; N Nissen (Den) ; O Bekker (RSA) ; C Bouniol (Fra) ; D Dixon (Eng) ; K Phelan (Irl) ; P Edberg (Swe) ; C Ortiz (Mex) ; N Dougherty (Eng) ; J Ahlers (RSA) ; J Guerrier (Fra) ; J Granberg (Fin) ; D Popovic (Aus) ;
74 P Price (Wal) ; M Brier (Aut) ; L Gagli (Ita) ; A Bernadet (Fra) ; O Lieser (Cze) ; R Steiner (Aut) ; A Björk (Swe) ; J Lara (Esp) ;
75 L Goddard (Eng) ; E Dubois (Fra) ; S Arnold (Aus) ; S Drummond (Sco) ; Y Tsukada (Jpn) ; M Grönberg (Swe) ; B Åkesson (Swe) ;
76 J Bäckström (Swe) ; B Ritthammer (Ger) ; R Russell (Sco) ; J Lando Casanova (Fra) ;
77 O Henningsson (Swe) ; A McLardy (RSA) ; D Ulrich (Sui) ; R McGowan (Eng) ; J Rask (Swe) ; J Sjöholm (Swe) ;
79 A Kaleka (Fra) ;
