Swedish rookie Jens Dantorp thanked the strong local support as he joined England’s Eddie Pepperell in a share of the first round lead at the Nordea Masters.
Both opened with six under par rounds of 66 at PGA Sweden National, with home favourite Dantorp carding six unanswered birdies in his home town of Malmo.
And afterwards he revealed the local support had provided a huge boost.
“This is my home course so I try to play it as much as I can when I’m home,” said Dantorp. “I can’t really explain how good the support I got today was.
“All my friends, all my buddies were here and there was so much applause. That was one of the biggest keys to my success today; it definitely helped me.
“Peter Hanson has helped me a lot. It’s great to go to the States to see him over the winter when you can’t practice here. He’s been a great mentor to me and has helped me through things, so I feel more comfortable in situations such as this.
“This season has been solid. I’ve not quite had the results I would have wanted but it will come, I’m sure. It’s all new to me so I’m taking it easy.”
Pepperell birdied three of his last four holes – finishing with approaches to within five feet at the last two holes.
“I’m very pleased with that opening round,” said the 23 year old, who led after the first two rounds of the recent Open de España and has finished in the top 25 two weeks running. “It was fairly windy out there so 66 is a good score.
“I played well today and I hit the ball better, which is the main thing for me. I’ve not been hitting the ball that well over the last couple of weeks, despite some good results.
“Confidence is coming. The last two weeks have been good for me because I’ve been up there in the tournament at some point, but the Saturday in Spain I played some terrible shots, which I knew was to do with the swing.
“I’m trying to get that sorted and I went home after Monday and saw my coach on Tuesday, so I didn’t get here until Wednesday. I had a good lesson with my coach and today was as good as I’ve hit the ball in a long time.”
The leaders were one ahead of two other Swedes, Rikard Karlberg and Sebastian Soderberg, Scot Stephen Gallacher, Northern Ireland’s Gareth Maybin and Dutchman Daan Huizing.
World Number Two Henrik Stenson opened with a three under par 69, one better than playing partner Thomas Björn and defending champion Mikko Ilonen.
The 28 year old Karlberg, who predominantly plies his trade on the Asian Tour, started on the back nine with consecutive birdies and gained another shot at the 17th to turn in 33.
Further birdies at the long first and short sixth – the latter from 25 feet - took Karlberg to five under par, and he recovered from a missed short putt at the seventh with another birdie gain at the eighth.
Gallacher holed a six footer at the first and then birdied the third and fourth after turning in 34, while rookie Huizing almost holed his approach to the third for one of five unanswered birdies.
Maybin had reached six under through 12 holes, only for a bogey at the seventh to deny him a share of the overnight lead.
The 23 year old Soderberg marked his European Tour debut with eight birdies and two bogeys.
