Joachim B Hansen took the clubhouse lead during the first round of the Madeira Islands Open – BPI – Portugal with a four under par 68.
The 24 year old Dane, who lost his European Tour card last season after failing to register a top-ten finish, birdied two of his first three holes after starting on Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra’s back nine.
And Hansen, whose best European Tour finish came when he was tied for third at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open in 2013, kept a bogey-free card with further gains at the first and third to be the early pacesetter in a tournament reduced to 54 holes after strong wins wiped out Thursday’s action.
“I felt great out there and it’s a good start,” said Hansen, who graduated from the Challenge Tour in 2012.
“I missed a short one on the 11th hole for three birdies in a row to start but I feel confident with my swing and I know where the ball is going - I just need to control it in the wind.
“The course is nice, really good conditions, and it’s good they made the greens that much slower so the ball doesn’t roll in the wind.
“No bogeys was pretty impressive, I’d take that every day. I didn’t feel nervous out there and I just knew what to do.
“Last year I had problems with my short irons; I wasn’t hitting it close enough and I worked on that a lot during the winter. I changed putter at the start of this year too and that’s working really well for me.
“I just have the feeling that I can shoot any score right now and four under was a lot better than I expected. I think it is possible to go lower out there because I had 30 putts today and I missed a few short ones for birdie, but you can’t make every putt.
“I struggled last year, I just needed one big result – I made a lot of cuts but needed the top-ten finish to keep my card. It’s a big confidence boost - it’s very nice to feel the game is back to where I think it can be.”
England’s Andrew Marshall and French pair Adrien Saddier and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet were all tied for second on three under coming into the closing holes, with German Sean Einhaus and 1999 Algarve Portuguese Open winner Van Phillips a shot further back.
Saddier moved into contention with a remarkable run of scoring on the back nine – a run of 3-3-4-3-3-3 seeing him gain five shots in as many holes.
A bogey at the 16th threatened to spoil his round, but he got the shot back at the short next for a total of four birdies, three bogeys and an eagle to join Marshall and Gonnet in the clubhouse on three under.
“I had a great back nine,” said Saddier, who like Hansen has limited starts after missing out on The Race to Dubai’s top 110 last year.
“I made a really nice chip at ten and my game was really good after that, I made some good putts and hit some nice shots and I just needed to stay focussed shot by shot.”
