Jeppe Kristian Andersen will take a one-shot lead into the second round of Final Stage Qualifying School after posting a brilliant seven under par round of 64 on the Lakes Course at INFINITUM.
The Dane carded nine birdies and two bogeys to climb to the top of the leaderboard and move one ahead of Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen in second place.
Andersen, who played in last week’s Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A, believes his ability to adapt to windy conditions was paramount to his success in round one.
“It was a very nice round of golf,” he said. “I played the Challenge Tour Grand Final last week in Mallorca, so I am very used to the wind.
“The wind at the Lakes Course today was brutal and I just used my experience from last week. The wind was honest in direction and being from Denmark I am able to adapt my game in these conditions.
“I had to trust the conditions today because the fairways were quite wide but it is still scary to start the ball over the water and rely on the wind to bring it back into play. That was the key for me today.
“The Hills Course will be tighter tomorrow so I will use more irons off the tee to keep the ball in the fairway. I will adopt a similar game plan, but I will need to adjust my ball flight to be slightly lower due to the altitude change up in the hills.”
The 28-year-old impressed on the Challenge Tour this season finishing 36th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings after graduating from the Nordic Golf League in 2022, and he is now targeting a DP World Tour card, with the top 25 and ties this week earning playing privileges on Golf’s Global Tour.
“I felt like my season ended last week but this is an extra chance,” he said. “I am just going to give it my best shot and hopefully I can finish in the top 25 and secure my DP World Tour card. It was my first season on the Challenge Tour this year and I still have a lot to learn but I will do my best to move up another level.”
Iceland’s Haraldur Magnus sits in third place on five under par alongside Welshman Jack Davidson, France’s Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon, Australian Haydn Barron, German Jannik De Bruyn, American Braden Thornberry and Denmark’s Sebastian Friedrichsen.
Six players share tenth position on four under par, including amateur Joshua Berry, Germany’s Freddy Schott and Englishman Jamie Rutherford.
The second round will get under way at 9:05am local time, with Andersen teeing it up on the Hills Course alongside Indian Manu Gandas and Australian Elvis Smylie at 10:28am.
