David GonzalezA holed gap wedge, three more twos and an opening 62 gave Jannik de Bruyn a one-shot Open de Portugal lead at PGA Aroeira 1.
There are worse ways to settle into a tournament than holing a wedge on your third hole.
For Jannik de Bruyn, it proved the spark for a nine-under-par 62 and the outright lead after the opening round of the Open de Portugal at PGA Aroeira 1.
Eight birdies and an eagle left the German one shot ahead of Sweden’s Adam Wallin, with the damage largely done by a wedge game that rarely gave him reason to worry.
His only dropped shot of the day prevented a spotless card. Not that there was much else to complain about.
“I didn’t find any trouble out there which made it a very easy going round,” said De Bruyn.
“I had plenty of very good wedges which makes it easy to make birdies, and I also holed one which makes life even easier. I’m very pleased with the start of the tournament.”
An eagle two gets De Bruyn moving
Starting at the tenth, the 27-year-old opened with a birdie before producing the shot of his round two holes later.
From 108 metres in the 12th fairway, De Bruyn played a smooth gap wedge which spun back into the cup for an eagle two. Three under after three holes is the sort of arithmetic that tends to improve a golfer’s afternoon.
He would make another three twos during the round as his approach play repeatedly gave him scoring opportunities.
“I had 108 metres and hit a smooth gap wedge that spun back into the hole which was very pleasant because it was my third hole so it got the round going, and then I hit a few more wedges close,” he said.
“I think that was the strongest part of my game and as I said makes life easier.”
PGA Aroeira 1 plays to familiar strengths
De Bruyn’s 62 carried a little extra weight given his place in the afternoon wave. The wind strengthened as Thursday progressed, making conditions slightly more demanding than those faced by the earlier starters.
He hardly appeared bothered.
There was familiarity in the tree-lined character of PGA Aroeira 1 for a player who grew up playing that style of course, while receptive greens allowed him to remain aggressive with his approaches.
“I grew up on a treeline course which is why I very much like these kind of courses, especially over here in Portugal and Spain.
“The conditions didn’t affect me at all. Hole nine was pretty tough into the wind, but the rest was pretty playable, the greens were quite soft so you could really attack the pins.
“I feel it’s like a typical golf course and I really enjoy spending time here so that’s why I probably felt a bit more comfortable today. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
That comfort showed. The striking feature of the round was not simply the number of birdies but how uncomplicated De Bruyn managed to make his scoring look. Good position off the tee and precise wedges meant there was relatively little scrambling required.
A useful run after three events out
The timing is notable, too.
De Bruyn arrived in Portugal after tying for seventh at last week’s English Trophy, his fourth top-ten finish of the season. He currently sits 44th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
That result followed a three-event absence through injury, which De Bruyn believes has inadvertently helped to strip some expectation from his golf.
“I actually missed the past three events prior to England because I was injured, so I didn’t have any expectations which kind of helped last week.
“Today it was kind of the same, I didn’t really expect much, which helped me going out there quite freely and that’s what I’ll keep doing.”
A 62 tends to bring expectations back rather quickly, of course. The more important question on Friday will be whether he can preserve the freedom that produced it.
Wallin stays close as Horsey shares third
De Bruyn does not have much room for manoeuvre at the top.
Wallin is only one stroke behind, while Englishman David Horsey’s seven-under round led the morning scoring and put him into a share of third alongside Sweden’s Tobias Jensen Eden and Denmark’s Sebastian Friedrichsen.
Round two begins at 7.40 am local time on Friday. De Bruyn will play alongside Switzerland’s Fiorino Clerici and American Michael Feuerstein.
After an afternoon in which his wedges kept putting him exactly where he wanted to be, the leader now has a different challenge: staying there.
