Lucas Bjerregaard equalled his best European Tour round on home soil to lead the Danish charge on day one of the Made in Denmark at Silkeborg Ry Golf Club.
The Portugal Masters champion missed the cut in the first two editions of the event but has improved his result every season and started with a round of 66 on Thursday for the second consecutive year.
That left him just two shots behind first-round leader Jonathan Thomson and Bjerregaard was delighted to continue his positive trajectory in his home event.
“I was very pleased with my round today,” he said. “I played okay, not great, I kind of lost the timing off the tee on last nine holes but happy to keep bogeys off the card.
I haven’t had the best success at Made in Denmark the previous years, so it’s nice to get started with at 66 - Lucas Bjerregaard
“It’s possible to get a good score today with hardly any wind and the soft greens.
“I haven’t had the best success at Made in Denmark the previous years, so it’s nice to get started with at 66.”
Bjerregaard picked up shots on the 11th, 12th and 17th to turn in 33 and then hit an incredible second into the third, spinning his ball a long way back off the fringe for another gain.
A monster putt would follow on the next before an excellent bunker shot on the eighth set up a sixth birdie of the day.
Australian Brett Rumford is a six-time winner on the European Tour and he showed signs of a return to form after missing three of his last four cuts with a 66 of his own.
The 41 year old eagled the 12th and birdied the 13th and 14th to turn in 32. He holed from ten feet on the fourth and birdied the par five next after getting on in two, but three-putted the seventh before making another gain on the eighth.
“I made a fast start and just tried to hold on to that,” he said. “It was very wet out there today so the conditions were a lot tougher than the pro-am yesterday.
“All in all I’m pretty happy with the score, especially around this course because I am not the best driver of the golf ball and it is very tight off the tee around here. But once I got it on the fairway it suits my wedge game so the key for me will be to drive it well for the rest for the week.
“We don’t play golf courses like this too much anymore. It kind of reminds me of Woburn in England. It’s a great lay-out and fantastic course - I wish we played more like it.”
