The Dutch duo of Joost Luiten and Robert-Jan Derksen shot a ten under par 62 to lead the Omega Mission Hills World Cup European Qualifier in Estonia by one shot from the Austrian pairing of Roland Steiner and Florian Praegant in Thursday’s opening fourball round.
The Slovenian team of Sebastjan Ajster and Gregor Slabe were the surprise package near the top of the leaderboard at eight under, one ahead of the Chilean duo of Mark Tullo and Felipe Aguilar, who shot 65.
With the top three finishers in Estonia qualifying for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China in November, Luiten and Derksen, both regulars on the European Tour, were pleased to have taken advantage of the fourball format to make a solid start to their campaign at the Estonian Golf and Country Club.
It sounds funny to say but we didn’t play great today. We worked well as a team though. I made five birdies and Robert made six. The key for us today was that we made our birdies on different holes so the format suited us,” said Luiten.
Looking forward to the Friday foursomes, Luiten and Derksen were both in relaxed mood about their tactics
“Robert played the par threes well today so we might take a look and see how that fits on the course. Our games are very similar and we both hit about the same distance so it doesn’t matter too much who hits the tee shot,” said Luiten.
Derksen added: “It’s a great course and the condition is pretty good. There are some really nice holes and if you play well you will make plenty of birdies. It’s fun to play this type of golf course. You can be aggressive and go for pins. It’s a great course for this kind of format.”
Team Austria, Steiner and Praegant, both regulars on the European Challenge Tour, carded nine birdies in a blemish-free round on the Sea Course.
Steiner said: “We’re both playing well at the moment. We were pleased with our performance in yesterday’s Pro-Am which was basically the same kind of format as today, so we expected to have a solid round.
“This is the first time we have played together as a team and it has worked really well. We room together on the Challenge Tour so we have got to know each other which is an advantage and our games are similar.
“Our tactics are to stay out of trouble. On this course there is not too much trouble so if we hit okay shots then we should make par. With good course management we can make sure of pars on each hole and then the birdies will come.”
The Slovenian pairing of Ajster and Slabe had two birdies on the front nine and six more on the back.
“The first few holes were pretty bad but after the tenth hole we really started playing. We had three birdies in a row from the tenth and then on the 13th we had a good par save and then two more birdies,” said Ajster.
Estonians Mark Suursalu and Egert Poldma delighted the home crowds with their opening round 67 leaving them in sixth place.
The Scores - First Round
62 – Netherlands (Joost LUITEN/Robert-Jan DERKSEN)
63 – Austria (Roland STEINER/Florian PRAEGANT
64 – Slovenia (Sebastjan AJSTER/Gregor SLABE)
65 – Chile (Mark TULLO/Felipe AGUILAR)
66 – Switzerland (Martin ROMANGER/Nicolas SULZER)
67 – Estonia (Mark SUURSALU/Egert POLDMA)
69 – Finland (Mikko KORHONEN/Joonas GRANBERG), Portugal (Ricardo SANTOS/Hugo SANTOS)
71 – Greece (Karantzias PANAGIOTIS/Gkinis THEMISTOKLIS), Poland (Maksymilian SALUDA/ Jakub OSSOWSKI)
72 – Croatia (Marin STAHAN/Miro RAIC)
Format: Fourball format for the first and third rounds, Foursomes (alternate shot) for the second and final founds.
