Niklas Nørgaard's first ever shot at Ullna Golf and Country Club was his opening tee shot of this week's Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed but that did not stop him carding a stunning 65 on day one.
The huge-hitting Dane injured his back water-skiing on Monday and when he came to pack his bags on Tuesday, he could not do it himself, needing his girlfriend to get him prepared and on his way to Sweden.
There was little improvement when he arrived in Stockholm but "magically" he was able to tee it up on Thursday morning and he responded with a course-record 65 that is his second-lowest round of the season.
“It was a very weird day because I had no preparation at all," he said. "I hurt my back on Monday, so I come up here and I haven’t practised. I haven’t played the course, I just went out there with pretty much no expectations at all and it worked today.
“I was home for one day and went out water-skiing and hurt the back, I was going to fly out here Tuesday and I went to pick up my Trackman to go and fly and I couldn’t even lift it. That’s how bad it was. My girlfriend packed my suitcase and sent me away.
"I got up here and couldn’t do anything. Magically something happened and I feel totally fine now. I just haven’t done any prep at all."
The 31-year-old - who averages 328.33 yards off the tee this season - used his enormous distance to take advantage of the two par-fives on the back nine and reduce the 11th and 18th to easy birdies as he turned in 32 before dropping a shot on the second.
A 363-yard drive then helped set up an eagle on the par-five third but Nørgaard showed there is plenty more to his game as he chipped in on the eighth and then got smartly up and down from the sand at the ninth in a birdie-birdie finish.
"It's just a beautiful course," he said. "Such a nice walk, you have the lake out there which is beautiful.
"I have a lot of wedges in, so it’s a bit easier than last year – maybe just a good day feel. Great condition and I like being in Scandinavia."
