Under the full heat of the African sun, Steven Jeppesen and Sebastian Soderberg kept their cool to climb to the top of the Barclays Kenya Open leaderboard on the first morning of the new European Challenge Tour season at Nairobi’s Karen Country Club.
Both players dropped two shots, with Jeppesen finding six birdies for a four under par first round of 68, while Soderberg’s seven birdies saw him tie for the early lead with Frenchman Adrien Saddier on five under par.
Soderberg is in only his second season on the Challenge Tour and is hoping to improve on his previous best finish of a tie for third place at last year’s EMC Challenge Open this week.
“It felt good out there today,” said the 25 year old. “I was really solid off the tee so I didn’t really get myself into too much trouble and it was a pretty smooth round. It feels good to get going.
“There’s a lot of golf left but I’m excited for the rest of the tournament and just want to keep this going through the weekend if I can.
“The conditions here are tricky, you’ve got to be careful with your yardages because we’re at altitude here so you base them off your previous shot, but I managed to do it pretty well today.
“I got a head start playing in South Africa in February and then I played down in Spain a few weeks ago so I felt like the tournament rust was off and I was ready to get going.”
Jeppesen is familiar with European Tour life having earned his card through both the Road to Oman Rankings and the European Tour Qualifying School in the past and the 31 year old’s aim for 2016 is to regain his place on the Race to Dubai.
“I played pretty decent today,” he said. “I made some good putts on the front nine but on the back nine I had a few good opportunities that I missed coming in, but other than that I’m happy.
“I don’t find these conditions too hard. Weather-wise it’s not bad and as for the course itself, the greens have improved a lot in the last couple of years, but I don’t find golf here that different to be honest.
“I’ve played a little bit in the off season, I went down to South Africa for a couple of European Tour events, but other than that I haven’t really done much over the winter – it’s been nice to have some time off though, I haven’t really had that for the last 12 years so I really needed it!
“The goal this year is obviously to get my European Tour card back, that’s what I’m aiming for, but how I will get that time will tell, there’s a few different options, but there’s a long way before this tournament is even over and a very long way to Oman, plus a lot of very good golfers out here. I just need to keep doing what I can.”
