Alfie Plant holds a one-stroke lead following a testing first day of the Dormy Open by Creekhouse at Kristianstad Golf Club and Destination.
Blustery conditions welcomed the earlier starters at the Åhus venue, making its debut on the Road to Mallorca this week, and it was the Englishman who impressed most, mixing five birdies with one bogey to sign for a four under par 66.
The two-time HotelPlanner Tour winner takes a slender advantage over a congested leaderboard into Friday and was pleased with his overall performance on a particularly challenging Kristianstad lay-out.
“There was some really good stuff, and it was really tricky out there,” he said.
“The course is fantastic and probably the best we’re going to play all year so it’s nice to post an early score but there’s plenty of golf left and some tough weather conditions coming in.”
The 34-year-old, starting on the tenth, opened with his only dropped shot of the day before bouncing back with a birdie on 13 to turn at level par.
Pars on one and two would follow before back-to-back gains on the third and fourth moved Plant to two under par for the day. A well-holed birdie putt on the seventh was followed by another gain on the eighth before a closing par capped an impressive day’s work.
“I started to hole a few putts coming in which was nice and I made a nice birdie on the eighth after finding myself a little bit out of position,” he added.
“I was looking to keep it as stress free as possible, which is easier said than done but I did it well today.”
“They can tuck the flags here and they have some big run-offs if you’re too cute with your approach shots so it’s easy to make a bogey here but it’s a fair course where you can have plenty of chances.
“I’ve been playing nice and steady this year and have been in and around the lead at times so let’s see what this week brings.”
England’s Bradley Bawden, who had earlier set the clubhouse lead, is three under par alongside his countryman Callum Farr, Swede David Lundgren, Irish duo Ronan Mullarney and Gary Hurley and German Marc Hammer.
The second round of the Dormy Open by Creekhouse gets under way at 7:30am local time with Plant teeing off alongside Wilco Nienaber from South Africa and Frenchman Bastien Amat.
