While Daniel Brooks was not leading overnight after the opening round of the Najeti Hotels et Golfs Open presented by Neuflize OBC, the Englishman’s two under par 69 looked like the best score of the day considering he was four over after five holes.
The Essex player, who has progressed steadily through the satellite tour and Challenge Tour ranks before graduating to The European Tour in 2013, suffered an extremely poor start including a triple-bogey eight at the par five 14th.
When he stepped onto the 15th tee, his sixth, the 26 year old was four over par and way down the leaderboard but he dusted himself off before birdieing the par three 17th to reach the turn in three over.
Another gained shot at the fourth moved him to two over before an eagle at the par five seventh was followed by another eagle three at the ninth to leave him just two shots off Tjaart Van der Walt’s lead on two under par.
“When I stepped on to the 15th tee I was thinking, here we go again with Saint Omer,” said Brooks. “I have had some bad rounds here but on the 14th I just leaked a two iron, took my punishment and a drop and then ended up in the bunker.
“I quit on my bunker shot and it came right back to my feet and then a two-putt. It’s OK to do it early on because you have plenty of holes to recover but it was a really tough day out there and I just managed to carry on playing and hit it nicely.
“It’s a tough course to play when the weather is like this anyway, never mind after an eight, so I was hoping to just get back to one or two over but to finish two under was pretty tidy.
“I hit a couple of good drives down the two par fives and had a six iron into both. At the seventh I hit it to about eight and then holed about a 35-footer at the ninth so that was a real bonus.
“I just need to chill out now and I don’t feel like I need to much practice now because I'm hitting it well so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.”
