A remarkable run of four birdies in his last four holes gave Dutchman Tim Sluiter a share of second place on day one of the ISPS Handa Wales Open.
The 23 year old took full advantage of calmer conditions late in the day, with strong winds causing all sorts of problems at The Celtic Manor Resort.
Sluiter, playing in the third last group, went from three over par to three under with his dazzling late display.
After starting on the 11th, he was three over at the turn after one birdie, two bogeys and a double bogey at the 17th.
But the Qualifying School graduate birdied the second and third, hit his approach to six feet at the seventh, had a tap-in birdie at the eighth, holed a monster putt at the next and converted from four feet at the tenth, his last.
“It was great. To go from three over to three under - that's never bad,” he said.
“I guess the weather obviously helped me a lot. As soon as the weather got a little less windy, I suddenly started hitting it really close and made a few putts.
“The wind died down significantly, so it was easy to hit your spots when there's no wind. I was playing half decent in the wind, and I really kept it together with my short game because I didn't hit a lot of greens until the wind died.”
Sluiter joined Germany’s Marcel Siem on three under after his 68, one behind England’s Lee Slattery.
