Norway’s Jan-Are Larsen leads the European Challenge Tour’s XX Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata after a brilliant opening round of eight under par 64 at the Metaponto Club handed him a one stroke lead from England’s Andrew Butterfield.
The XX Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata is a unique event on the Challenge Tour Schedule that sees every player will play one round over two different courses (Riva dei Tessali and the Metaponto Club) for the first two days, before the final two rounds are completed at Tessali.
One over par after three holes, Larsen went onto rack up two eagles and five birdies in 15 holes with an excellent display of golf to take the lead from Butterfield at Metaponto, while another Englishman, Richard McEvoy, posted a six under par 65 to lead the way at Tessali.
Larsen, who won a place on The European Tour at the 2004 Qualifying School, dropped his only shot of the day at the third hole, but recovered instantly with a birdie on the fourth, which was quickly followed by another birdie and then an eagle three at the sixth and seventh. Another birdie on the ninth green saw the 28 year old turn in four under par 32, and he mirrored that score on the back nine with another eagle three and two birdies to take the first round lead.
“I’m pretty happy with that,” said Larsen. “It was just a really solid round of golf and the putter was working well which was just about the first time that has happened this season and it was good to get a few breaks because you always need a few if you are going to shoot a low score.
“I have been playing in as many European Tour events as I can since getting my card at the Qualifying School, but when I didn’t get into the Forest of Arden this week I decided to come here because I was already in Italy anyway. The decision has been a good one so far!”
Over at Tessali, McEvoy was pleased to have played well after being forced to withdraw from last week’s FIRSTPLUS Wales Challenge with a back injury. The 26 year old winner of the 2005 Panasonic Panama Open, who is currently third on the Challenge Tour Rankings with seasons earning of €52,171, is hoping to continue his good form at Metaponto during round two.
“It was good to play well today – especially after having to miss out last week because of the back injury. I basically couldn’t really swing the club at all last week because of the injury, but it has responded well to the treatment I received and everything is pretty much back to normal.
“Hopefully I can keep playing like that. There is a real difference between the two courses that we are playing this week. Tessali is tree lined and really quite tight, whereas Metaponto is wide open and you can ten to get away with a bit more there, as long as the wind doesn’t blow.”
While Butterfield was second on the Metaponto leaderboard, there was a three way tie for the same position at Tessali between 2003 Challenge Tour Number One Johan Edfors of Sweden, England’s Ross Fisher and Spain’s Gabriel Canizares.
