After a rough ride in recent weeks, Oscar Floren can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel courtesy of a round of 66 on the opening day of the KLM Open.
Floren, currently languishing in 162nd place in The Race to Dubai, will need a very strong finish to the season if he is to retain his status on The European Tour, and he made some progress in his battle to keep his card with six birdies in a much-improved performance at Kennemer Golf and Country Club.
The 29 year old from Gothenburg is without a top 20 finish all season – his best result was tied 24th in the recent M2M Russian Open – but if he maintains his serene progress this week in Zandvoort, Floren could well turn around a campaign which had appeared destined to end in disappointment.
Floren cited a red hot putter as the main reason for his upturn in fortunes, and the Swede was understandably all smiles after signing for his joint lowest round of the year.
He said: “I didn’t actually strike the ball that well, but whenever I got on the green I felt like I could hole every putt I faced. So that’s always a nice feeling, and was the main reason for my score.
“I had a very nice finish to my round. I hit two great shots into the seventh, and just lipped out for eagle. Then I holed a nice putt on the eighth, and whilst it was obviously disappointing to finish with a bogey, I’m not going to beat myself up too much about it.
“I’m doing some things well, but my bad shots are really bad, and I end up making double or triple bogeys, which are tough to recover from. My ball-striking all year hasn’t been as good as I would’ve liked it to be, but hopefully this is a step in the right direction.
“My putting is really good at the moment, so if I can just improve my ball-striking even a little bit, hopefully you’ll see a real improvement in my results.”
With the afternoon starters yet to complete their rounds, Floren is currently one shot off the lead – held jointly by David Howell, Pablo Larrazábal, Damien McGrane and Fabrizio Zanotti – on five under par.
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