| De Vooght's late late show leads in Colombia
He might have begun the day in the last group out on the golf course, but Belgian Didier de Vooght ensured he ended it in style by topping the leaderboard after a first round 66 in the II Club Colombia Masters.
The 34 year old’s five under par opening round was good enough to lead the Dutch duo of Wil Besseling and Inder van Weerelt as well as Englishman James Morrsion and the Paraguayan Marco Ruiz by a single stroke at the Country Club de Bogotá in Colombia, with a further ten players just two behind De Vooght.
The leader started his opening round on the tenth tee and signalled his intent with birdies on the 11th and 14th to make a great start to the fifth and final co-sanctioned event between the European Challenge Tour and the Tour de las Americas.
A bogey on the 16th – De Vooght’s only dropped shot of the day – saw the Belgian reach the turn in 34 before he surged home in 32 strokes picking up three birdies in a beautifully constructed ‘back’ nine.
“My long game was really good today,” said De Vooght. “I’ve been in Argentina and now Colombia here three weeks now, and for the first time in the three weeks I actually drove the ball nicely, which made a big difference.
“It makes it a lot easier to hit the ball from the fairway than from the rough, where I was the last two weeks,” smiled De Vooght.
Among the ten men tied for sixth spot, just two off the lead, are the Challenge Tour’s two newest champions, Estanislao Goya and Antti Ahokas.
The Argentine, currently Number One on the Rankings, and the Finn – respective winners of the 77 Abierto VISA del Centro 2008 presentado por Personal and the 103 Abierto VISA de la Republica presentado por Peugeot – have emerged as two players to keep an eye on as the Challenge Tour’s 20th anniversary season progresses.
Also on three under par after matching the opening 68s of Ahokas and Goya is Colombia’s Eduardo Herrera. The former PGA Tour member is the best among the locals after a round of three birdies and fifteen pars.
Sweden’s Oscar Florien could have finished the day enjoying a comfortable lead, but, having reached the five 18th at six under par for the day, his great round came crashing to a thunderous halt as he twice dumped his ball out of bounds on his way to racking up a hugely damaging quintuple bogey ten. Florien is by no means out of the tournament, though, just four behind early leader De Vooght. |