It was a good day for Thomas Aiken on Thursday as he took part of a four-way share of the first-round lead of the DP World Tour’s Betfred British Masters at the Belfry Hotel & Resort in Sutton Coldfield, England.
Aiken had picked up six birdies without dropping a shot through his first 13 holes, but he made his solitary bogey of the round on the 14th. He immediately regained that lost stroke with a birdie on the 15th, and he finished on six-under together with Haotong Li, Matthias Schwab, and Marcel Siem.
“Today was a good day. I hit some really good iron shots. I drove the ball pretty well,” said Aiken. “Nice to hole some putts finally. Kind of got off to a good start, which helps. I hit it pretty much give on the first two holes. It was a nice momentum-starter and kind of just built from there.
“The modern game of golf has changed quite a bit. I’m not the longest hitter anymore, so it’s kind of hard to get proximity to the hole from certain distances. But the nice thing about The Belfry is they force to you hit into certain segments. Where other guys are taking less club, I’m hitting driver. So I’m getting up to where they are hitting from which kind of helps, and allows me to hit it a little closer.”
Li reeled off four successive birdies on the back nine. He is enjoying a stellar season, having tasted victory at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and recorded four further top-five finishes – including last month’s Open Championship. And he was on top form at The Belfry as he bounced back from an opening bogey with seven birdies in his next 17 holes.
Schwab made two eagles, four birdies and two bogeys in his 66 and was pleased with the way he played the par fives, saying: “I took care of the par-fives with two eagles and a birdie, which is nice. And then just played solid golf, made a lot of putts, which was nice, and avoided most of the mistakes.”
Germany’s Siem also made seven birdies, with five of them coming on the back nine.
Brandon Stone also had a good start, with his four-under-par 68 putting him in a share of seventh, just two shots off the lead.
Veteran Darren Fichardt was on one-under in a share of 22nd, while Deon Germishuys signed for a level-par 72 and a share of 47th.
Jayden Schaper, Robin Williams, Richard Sterne, Casey Jarvis, MJ Daffue and Thriston Lawrence were all on one-over in a share of 67th. Lawrence will be especially disappointed after a hot start of four birdies in the first eight holes set him up well. But he made double on the ninth, and then made three bogeys on his way in without picking up another shot.
