It was a tough opening nine for Zander Lombard on Thursday as he made three bogeys and two bogeys ahead of the turn, but he finished up with a three-under-par 68 in the first round of the DP World Tour’s KLM Open.

Lombard started his round on the 10th tee at The International course in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and he dropped a shot there immediately. He got things back to even with a birdie-two on the 11th. He dropped two more shots on 15 and 18, but a birdie on 16 kept him in the round.

It was after the turn that Lombard ignited, and he birdied the first, eagled the third and picked up another birdie on the fifth. He parred his way home after that, and was in a share of 11th after the first round.

He was four strokes off the lead which was held at seven-under-par by Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia. Gouveia also started on the 10th, and his opening nine was in stark contrast to Lombard’s: He made seven birdies on his opening stretch to turn in 28. He made just one more birdie during the rest of his round, interrupted by a 90-minute break due to the threat of lightning, as well as a bogey as he signed for a 64.

Gouveia was a shot clear of Connor Syme of Scotland, with six players in a share of third on five-under.

Dylan Frittelli opened with a one-under-par 70 for a share of 22nd, with, amongst others, Jayden Schaper. Wilco Nienaber was in a share of 35th on level-par.