Marco Penge battled through tough conditions at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A to post a three under par opening round of 69, before the first round was suspended due to strong winds at Club de Golf Alcanada.
The Englishman’s two birdies on the front nine meant he made the turn two under par before four birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey coming in put him in pole position, one ahead of Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith and Frenchman Tom Vaillant, who still have two holes left to play of round one.
The 25-year-old was one of four players to end the day under par as winds of up to 45 miles per hour made scoring difficult at the season finale.
“The wind here today is pretty insane,” he said. “To come off and break 70 and even break par is a pretty good achievement and I’m pleased heading into the rest of the week.
“I got here on Monday, and I think everyone knew today was going to be pretty crazy. Starting out, it wasn’t actually that bad. As the round went on the wind picked up even more, so I’m pretty pleased I managed to tee off first.
“On the front nine I was just trying to make sure I didn’t miss it in the wrong spots. You were almost trying to miss the green where you knew you could get up and down. It was strange really.
“You’re not really trying to hit it close, you’re just wanting to make your par and move on. I birdied nine and I felt like I could shoot six or seven under as I felt good with my game.”
Penge, who currently sits in 24thposition on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, would climb 22 places into second and secure DP World Tour playing privileges for 2024 with victory this week.
“It was nice to shoot a good score today as I didn’t feel that confident coming into the week with my tee to green play,” he said. “The goal is to secure my DP World Tour card and hopefully I can get the job done this week.
“Patience is key. I think I only hit eight greens in regulation today, so it was about being accepting of it and knowing that everyone is going to hit bad shots in this weather. You just have to grind and dig it out as best you can.”
Ireland’s Conor Purcell, who has two holes left to play of round one, occupies fourth position on one under par, while South African JJ Senekal, Italians Lorenzo Scalise and Francesco Laporta, Germany’s Max Rottluff and Sweden’s Jesper Svensson share fifth on level par.
Svensson is currently projected to finish top of the Road to Mallorca Rankings, while Scalise would climb three places into third if he maintains his position on the leaderboard.
The conclusion of round one will start at 8:00am local time on Friday, with the second round beginning no earlier than 10:00am.
