European Tour Member Sebastian Fernandez leads the 47th Abierto Mexicano de Golf, the opening event of the 2005 European Challenge Tour season, after an opening five under par 66 on a day dominated by Argentine players at Club de Golf Hacienda, Mexico City.
Six of the top eight players on the leaderboard are compatriots of Fernandez from Argentina, the exceptions being Antonio Serna of Mexico, in joint second place, and England’s Shaun Webster, the leading European after a three under par 68 left him two strokes off the pace sharing fourth place.
The European challenge in the event, jointly sanctioned with the Tour de las Americas, continues down the leaderboard with 2004 English Amateur Champion James Heath and other former England Internationals Richard McEvoy and Ross Fisher in a group sharing ninth place after opening with rounds of 69, two under par, along with former European Tour winner Jorge Berendt of Argentina.
Calm conditions aided a blistering start by Fernandez who, despite setting out feeling feverish, dosed with aspirin and carding two bogeys in his first three holes, was able to pull himself together with back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th holes, his sixth and seventh.
“I did not feel well at the start,” he said, “but in the end things worked out all right. Getting these two birdies was the key to my day.”
Overall the day wielded seven birdies, two bogeys plus a lot of revived confidence for Fernandez, after disappointingly finishing his first full year on The European Tour in 136th position in the Volvo Order of Merit after graduating from the Challenge Tour in 2003.
“On the back nine I felt much better and things also went my way,” he added. “I holed a chip from off the green at the sixth, his 15th, then birdied the seventh with my best drive of the day and a really good eight iron.”
An eight iron that fairly exemplifies how far the ball flies through the light air at 8,500 feet high at Mexico City’s Hacienda Club: asked how far he was hitting that club Fernandez replied, “Somewhere around 180 yards, but it can fly further if you’re not careful!”
Rafael Gomez, who like Fernandez hails from Buenos Aires, shares second slot with Serna on four under par 67.
One stroke further back Argentines Rafael Echenique, Rodolfo Gonzalez, Miguel Carballo and Julio Zapata sharing third place with Webster. 26 players finished under par.
