Zander Lombard made three birdies on each nine on Thursday as he returned to DP World Tour action with a six-under-par 66 in the first round of the Volvo China Open at Hidden Grace Golf Club in Shenzhen.
It’s been a fine start to the season for Lombard, although he has narrowly missed out on breaking into the winner’s circle. At six-under in this tournament, he was three strokes behind the lead which was held by Frenchman Romain Langasque and Sweden’s Sebastian Soderbergh at nine-under. They both had bogey-free rounds and were one ahead of China’s Li Haotong.
Lombard, who is lying ninth on the Race to Dubai Rankings, and in 112th on the world rankings, started his round on the 10th and picked up his first shot on the 14th. He made three birdies in a row around the turn, on 17, 18 and one, and he rounded things off with a final birdie on his final hole of the day, the ninth.
He was in a share of seven with seven other players, including countryman Casey Jarvis. Jarvis also started his round on the 10th, and made two birdies before the turn. He made four more heading home in a bogey-free start to the tournament, which would give him some consolation after such a poor closing round in last week’s tournament cost him a chance at winning his maiden DP World Tour title.
Louis de Jager opened with a four-under-par 68 for a share of 23rd, while Ockie Strydom and Dylan Frittelli were on two-under in a share of 50th.
Jacques Kruyswijk opened with a one-over 73, and Brandon Stone had a two-over for a share of 122nd.
