Tom Lewis posted an eight under par round of 64 to take a one shot lead after the opening day of the Abu Dhabi Challenge at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
The Englishman birdied two of his final three holes to take the outright lead, one ahead of countryman Joshua Grenville-Wood and Frenchman Julien Sale, who both carded seven under par rounds of 65.
The Abu Dhabi Challenge is the first of back-to-back events taking place in the UAE as part of the European Tour group’s long-term partnership with the Emirates Golf Federation, and Lewis was pleased to get off to a fast start.
“It’s obviously a great start,” he said. “I haven’t shot a score like that around this course. Conditions were perfect. There wasn’t too much breeze and it’s so warm here that the ball is going an extra club length. It was great to be out there.
“My putting was really nice. That’s usually something that’s been my Achilles heel but today I holed putts when it mattered. I holed some lengthy putts and I holed some good mid-range ones too. That’s probably the big difference from shooting eight under and being level par around here.”
Lewis, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, used course knowledge to his advantage at Abu Dhabi Golf Club having last played here at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in 2021.
“I recently played here in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.” he said. “Knowing the rough is down, you can still get at pins when you’re a little out of position which makes it feel like the fairways are slightly bigger. I’ve never really hit many fairways around here, but to shoot that score, I’m delighted.
“It’s just one round, there’s three left to go. Tomorrow I’ll be telling myself I’m at level par. If I can get off to the start I did today and shoot in the 60s, that would be great.”
Spaniard Ivan Cantero Gutierrez posted a six under par round of 66 to move into fourth place on six under par.
Road to Mallorca Number One Ugo Coussaud continued his strong start to the season as he posted a five under par round of 67 to move into a share of fifth place alongside Swedish duo Joel Sjoholm and Niklas Lemke, Italian Andrea Pavan and South African Brandon Stone.
Tom Vaillant from France and South African Dylan Mostert share tenth place on four under par, while 15 players share 12th on three under par including Junior Ryder Cup Captain Stephen Gallacher and Road to Mallorca Number Three Adam Blommé.
The second round gets under way at 6:45am local time, with Lewis teeing it up alongside Italian Francesco Laporta and Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia at 8:15am.
