Round One Report
Nacho Elvira and Vincent Norrman share the lead at the Cazoo Open supported by Gareth Bale after carding seven under par rounds of 64.
Norrman, making just his fourth European Tour start this week, set the clubhouse target with a bogey-free round and was joined on that number by Elvira, who carded nine birdies and an eagle on The Twenty Ten Course at The Celtic Manor Resort.
They sit two strokes ahead of Finland’s Mikko Korhonen and James Morrison of England, who each fired five under par rounds of 66 on the 2010 Ryder Cup host course.
Nine golfers share fifth place on four under par, including Sam Horsfield, who won the Celtic Classic last year at this venue as part of the 2020 UK Swing, 2012 Ryder Cup player Nicolas Colsaerts and four-time European Tour winner Matt Wallace.
Player Quotes
Vincent Norrman: “It’s an amazing place. A ball-strikers course, you’ve got to hit some real good shots off the tee and into the greens to get a putt. It was a good day, I’m having a lot of fun out there at the moment. I didn’t know I shot seven under to be honest, with that birdie on the last, I was so in the zone.
“You have to believe in yourself. I’m super excited to get the opportunity to be out here with the guys who are the best in the world. The game is there. It’s a lot of fun to prove yourself out here and not play amateur golf. I’m not surprised, but I guess a lot of people are.”
Nacho Elvira: “It was like a rainbow – every single colour on the scorecard today. I don’t think I’ve ever made nine birdies and an eagle in a round. I think I played pretty solid, I putted nicely, which is something I haven’t done very well lately. I got a couple of bad breaks coming in but overall I’m happy.
“I didn’t think about (going low). I haven’t had a dream season, so I’m just trying to stay patient and go shot-by-shot and it adds up. I didn’t have a number in mind, I just tried to stick to my process and I did, that’s why I stayed so patient today.”
Mikko Korhonen: “It was a good front nine and then I pulled the break at the start of the back nine and wasn’t comfortable. In the end I got it back. I hit the ball really nicely through the day and holed some nice putts.
“The game has been okay all the time, I just haven’t made any scores. Normally I have a slump during the summer, but I’m hoping to turn that around now.”
James Morrison: “Very hot out there. It was quite nice, you just forget about what you’re doing, keep your head down and keep going forward. I played really well today, just kept going and ticking along. I seem to play well when it gets firm, that seems to be a common theme.
“It’s very tricky, there’s a lot of dogleg runouts into water. You have to be really accurate with where you’re pitching and landing it, pins on top of tiers and when it’s firm it’s hard to get back there. You have to be really on your landing zone. When it’s soft you can pitch it anywhere with any club towards the flag, when it’s firm you have to be careful with where you’re pitching it and where you want to finish it. You’ve got to use your brain, which is nice. We play courses that are soft and scoring is through the roof, so it’s nice to play a golf course where you have to think your way around it.”
Scores after Round One:
64 N ELVIRA (ESP), V NORRMAN (SWE),
66 J MORRISON (ENG), M KORHONEN (FIN),
67 J WRISDALE (ENG), M WALLACE (ENG), S HORSFIELD (ENG), W ORMSBY (AUS), C HANNA (USA), B MACPHERSON (AUS), R ROCK (ENG), N COLSAERTS (BEL), J GONNET (FRA),
68 D DRYSDALE (SCO), R MANSELL (ENG), J KRUYSWIJK (RSA), T KOIVISTO (USA), R JACQUELIN (FRA), B EASTON (RSA), A RAI (ENG), J HARDING (RSA), J CATLIN (USA), C SHINKWIN (ENG),
69 A DAVIES (AM) (WAL), S KIM (USA), C HILL (SCO), J SMITH (ENG), T PULKKANEN (FIN), S BROWN (ENG), S KJELDSEN (DEN), M ANTCLIFF (AUS),
70 B EVANS (ENG), T TREE (ENG), S SHARMA (IND), L SLATTERY (ENG), L GAGLI (ITA), B KENNEDY (AUS), D YOUNG (SCO), D LAW (SCO), A FITZPATRICK (AM) (ENG), R RAMSAY (SCO), W BESSELING (NED),
71 R SANTOS (POR), R WATTEL (FRA), A CA?IZARES (ESP), C WOOD (ENG), N H?JGAARD (DEN), M KAWAMURA (JPN), A SADDIER (FRA), K BROBERG (SWE), B HENSON (USA), N KEARNEY (IRL), J GEARY (NZL), R MCGOWAN (ENG), S HEND (AUS), A OTAEGUI (ESP),
72 B RITTHAMMER (GER), M SCHMITT (GER), Z LOMBARD (RSA), B POKE (DEN), N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER), A LEVY (FRA), B DREDGE (WAL), C SYME (SCO), D COUPLAND (ENG), J GUERRIER (FRA), H LEON (CHI), S HEISELE (GER), D LAWSON (AUS), D HOWELL (ENG), D WHITNELL (ENG), A ZEMMER (ITA), P PETERSON (USA),
73 A CHESTERS (ENG), P FIGUEIREDO (POR), G FDEZ-CASTA?O (ESP), P DUNNE (IRL), D HORSEY (ENG), H PORTEOUS (RSA), T GANDY (IMN), M SCHMID (GER), M WARREN (SCO), J SENIOR (ENG), C KIM (USA), A SANDHU (IND), G MOYNIHAN (IRL), J SUGRUE (IRL), O FISHER (ENG), C SORDET (FRA), M BALDWIN (ENG), G STORM (ENG), O FARR (WAL),
74 R MCEVOY (ENG), N POPPLETON (ENG), M PAVON (FRA), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), D VAN TONDER (RSA), E SMYLIE (AUS), J WALTERS (RSA), D DIXON (ENG), G BHULLAR (IND), S YONGCHAROENCHAI (THA), L VAN MEIJEL (NED), J DAVIDSON (WAL),
75 N BERTASIO (ITA), K REITAN (NOR), N LEMKE (SWE), C SHARVIN (NIR), J ASHFIELD (AM) (WAL), J MURPHY (IRL), L JOHNSTON (SCO), R FISHER (ENG),
76 J KASKE (FIN), M FORD (ENG), A QUIROS (ESP), D PERRIER (FRA), J SURI (USA), L CANTER (ENG),
77 J LONG (ENG), G BOURDY (FRA), R ENOCH (WAL),
78 M JORDAN (ENG), E BAE (USA), S TOWNDROW (ENG), C PIGEM (ESP), A PAVAN (ITA), M SCHNEIDER (GER),
79 O WILSON (ENG), E WALKER (SCO),
81 G HAVRET (FRA),
82 M ROBERTS (AM) (WAL),
83 T DYKES (WAL),
84 H LI (CHN)
