Pep Angles shot a bogey-free round of 66 to share the lead after the first round of the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final, the European Challenge Tour’s season finale.
The Spaniard came to Muscat occupying the final qualifying spot in the Road to Oman Rankings, with the top 16 players earning a card for the European Tour after the conclusion of this week’s event.
The 23 year old made the perfect start at Al Mouj Golf with three birdies in his first four holes, and went on to make three further gains over the back nine to share top spot with England’s James Heath and France’s Matthieu Pavon on six under par.
After taming the Greg Norman-designed course on day one, the man from Barcelona is confident he can continue to produce his best golf on the Omani Coast.
“I am very happy with today,” he said. “Obviously it’s a challenge this week, it’s the final tournament of the year and there’s a little bit more pressure, so I think I survived and did pretty well and I can’t wait to see how the next three days go.
“I haven’t looked at the Rankings or done any numbers or maths so I’m not paying attention to those, because I think I can’t really control those so I’m just trying to take care of my game, go through my processes on the course, and see where it takes me – I try not to look at leaderboards either.
“The year has been great, and I’m really not worried about what happens this week – I only finished college last year, I turned pro, I didn’t have a Challenge Tour card at the start of this year, so obviously I’ve now put myself in a position to do something great.
“I’m not adding any pressure though and I’m not worried, because if it’s not this week, it’s going to be next year. It’s going to come, so I’m just trying to learn with every tournament and become better every day.
“I think it’s important not to make many mistakes – I’m not going to say what all the keys to the course here are, I need to keep my secrets! But there are a couple of things that are important to know and I’m just trying to be really patient, because it’s a course that’s deceptive and not as easy as it looks.”
Pavon had double reason to celebrate as he turned 24 today - and had his mother and girlfriend watching him play for the first time this season.
“It’s pretty awesome because I have my girlfriend and my mum here,” he said. “So it was a wonderful day – six under par and leading, on my birthday, is pretty much perfect.
“I played really well, my putting was so good, so it’s the ideal way to start this tournament, and it’s a week to enjoy – I have my European Tour card already so it’s less pressure.
“I do have in my mind that I really want to win a tournament this year, so it’s just the perfect start this week to hopefully now have a chance to do so.
“This evening I think we’ll go for dinner, have some good food with all the French guys and my friends from the Challenge Tour, but after we have to go to bed because tomorrow we have work!”
One adrift of the lead is Bernd Ritthammer, who, having wrapped up a European Tour card, could yet achieve a higher category for next season by winning for the third time on the 2016 Road to Oman.
The race for the Road to Oman Rankings title is also heating up, with current leader Jordan Smith two back at four under par – where he is joined by Road to Oman Number Three Ryan Fox, in need of victory this week if he is to have a chance of taking top spot for the season.
