Ryan Lumsden carded a six under par opening round of 65 to set the pace on day one of the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos.
The Scotsman leads by a single stroke from Swede Niklas Lemke, England’s Ben Schmidt, Italian Aron Zemmer and Welshman David Boote in second place, as the wind proved to be one of the major factors on the opening day in Portugal.
Starting at the tenth, Lumsden got off to a fast start with three birdies in his first four holes and added another at 17 to make the turn at four under. Three further gains on the back, alongside a solitary bogey, helped him reach six under par, one shot clear of the pack.
Lumsden was delighted with his round, which saw him take an aggressive approach off the tee on the heathland layout.
“I played great today, played really well,” he said. “I took care of business off the tee which I think is important round this place.
“It’s quite soft, quite long and it was very windy today so finding fairways with as much length as you can is key.
“I think when you get off to a hot start it feels like you’re in control and can push a little bit. I just managed to stay really aggressive the whole way through, which I was really pleased with.”
Lumsden has been accompanied by his short game coach in Portugal this week and noted an improvement with the flatstick on the slopy greens at Royal Óbidos.
“I putted better than I have done in the last few weeks, which is really nice,” he said.
“I brought my short-game coach out with me, and we spent Tuesday and Wednesday dialling things in, which definitely paid off because I felt much more comfy out there and the hole looked a lot bigger than it has done in the last few weeks.”
The 27-year-old had to contend with breezy conditions at Royal Óbidos as the wind picked up during the afternoon on day one, a factor the Scot feels is advantageous for players with experience of playing links golf.
“It wasn’t easy out there,” he added. “It was ok when you had the wind straight into or straight down, but those crosswind holes were tough.
“It felt like the wind was getting up to 25-30 miles per hour at times. When it blows that hard around here, you’ve got to be in control of your ball, so I was glad I was able to do that today.
“I think this is where the British players are going to have a little bit of an advantage. Being able to flight it off the tee and knowing how to hit a five iron from 160 yards at times, those types of things were important.”
Six players share sixth on four under par, including home favourite Tomas Gouveia, Frenchmen Benjamin Hébert and Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon, Danes Martin Simonsen and Jonathan Gøth-Rasmussen, and Germany’s Michael Hirmer.
Play was suspended for darkness late on day one, with the five groups yet to complete their opening round set to restart at 8:30am local time.
Round two tee times remain the same, with play getting under way at 7:50am local time. Lumsden will tee it up in the first group alongside Switzerland’s Ronan Kleu and German Christian Braeunig.
