Scotland Robert MacIntyre carded a six under par 65 to lead the way on day one of the Cyprus Showdown 2020.
The 24-year-old finished in a third of the same over the same Aphrodite Hills Resort layout at the Cyprus Open last week and continued his good form with six birds in a flawless round.
It gave him a shot from Belgium’s Thomas Detry, Wales’ Jamie Donaldson, the Swedish couple Rikard Karlberg and Joakim Lagergren, France’s Romain Langasque, Finland’s Sami Välimäki and China’s Ashun Wu.
With one group left to finish the final hole when play was interrupted due to fading lights, two under the decisive points marked for the 30th – top 32 and bands after Friday’s second round will continue until Saturday with their recovery, before the field is reduced to 16 and ties to Sunday’s final round.
“I’m happy,” MacIntyre said European Tour’s official website. “Again I played good golf. Some mishaps off the tee, but it’s one of those golf courses where I can open my shoulders a little more and give it a little extra. I missed some putts that still shaved hole edges but overall it was a good round of golf.
“The track fits my eye. Visually, there are some images that, if it were a different kind of wind, I would not like them, but with the normal wind direction it fits my eye. I roll the putter well. New irons are brilliant. I hit figures.
“I try to lead every round of golf that I play – and I lead after today. Hopefully lead after tomorrow and when it’s back to level, you want to win again every day. That’s my attitude this week. It could be an interesting day. “tomorrow with the weather coming in. I’m only taking it one day at a time.”
Leading points in the first round of the Cyprus Showdown at Aphrodite Hills Resort, Cyprus (GBR / IRL unless otherwise stated, par 71):
65 – Robert MacIntyre
66 – Jamie Donaldson, Wu Ashun (CHN), Joakim Lagergren (SWE), Sami Valimaki (FIN), Romain Langasque (FRA), Thomas Detry (BEL), Rikard Karlberg (SWE)
67 – Shubhankar Sharma (IND), Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (ESP), Joost Luiten (NED), David Horsey, Johannes Veerman, Masahiro Kawamura (JPN), Alexander Levy (FRA)
68 – Marcus Armitage, Marcus Kinhult (SWE), Steven Brown, Kalle Samooja (FIN), Alexander Bjork (SWE), Callum Shinkwin, Grant Forrest, Daan Huizing (NED), Pablo Larrazabal (ESP), James Morrison, Joel Sjoholm ( SWE), Louis de Jager (RSA), Benjamin Hebert (FRA), Nacho Elvira (ESP)
Source: sn.dk