Round One Report
Calum Hill carded the lowest round of his European Tour career as he took a one stroke lead at the Hero Open.
One of the day’s early starters, the 26-year-old made the most of benign conditions as he signed for a bogey free round of 63, setting a new course record in the process on the Torrance Course at Fairmont St Andrews.
Searching for a maiden European Tour victory, Hill is one of 17 players in the field bidding to become the first Scottish winner on home soil since Paul Lawrie in 2012. He sits one stroke ahead of Scandinavian Mixed winner Jonathan Caldwell of Northern Ireland.
Caldwell carded seven birdies and an eagle as he signed for an eight under par 64, one stroke clear of Ross Fisher of England, American Chase Hanna and Robin Sciot-Siegrist of France.
In a share of sixth on six under par are Chris Paisley, Alvaro Quiros and Nicolai von Dellingshausen.
Player Quotes
Calum Hill: “I putted well. I didn’t put it in places that caused me too much bother – I did make my fair share of putts. One really good 15-footer on number one to save par and a lot of mid-range putts for birdies.
“We got the best part of (the weather) 100 per cent. Our front nine was relatively calm, probably half a club wind, then back nine picked up. We got three quarters of our day in quite pleasant conditions, I think it’s just getting worse from here – we took advantage.
“I really enjoy it (playing at home). There’s a lot of family and friends who can come and watch, I always enjoy playing in front of people I know. It makes it good fun.”
Jonathan Caldwell: “Delighted. Especially with recent form, it hasn’t been so good. Delighted that a bit of the work I’ve done over the last week or so with my coach at home is paying off. Hopefully I can keep going forward.
“I played well in Sweden, I had the week off after and came straight back out and played Germany. I played okay but didn’t feel it was quite there. Then you’re always looking for something. It’s like a pendulum, you go one way with something and you’ve got to get back to where you were. Slowly getting back to where I was from Sweden form.
“I’m not changing to get better, just to maintain. You work on one thing and it works for a week or two then you over-do that and have to find a way to get back. It’s a bit of a pendulum, you just have to find that medium, hopefully with the work I’ve done the last week or two it’s starting to turn a corner again.”
Ross Fisher: “Solid play. I drove it nicely off the tee. I hit it in one fairway bunker but fortunately that was on a par five and I managed to get up and down for a five. Steady golf, gave myself plenty of looks at birdie and managed to hole a few putts, which is nice.
“I did hear someone say you wanted an early-late. Looking at the forecast, we’ll get the better of the weather. But in Scotland in this little corner it can miss you. The forecast for the rest of the week doesn’t look too promising, but hopefully that’ll change. I’m delighted to go out and shoot a nice bogey-free seven under.”
Chase Hanna: “It’s good. When you take a week off you’re afraid you might stall your momentum, thankfully I kept that going today. Tee to green was awesome, so hopefully I can keep that going.
“This is somewhat similar to Celtic Manor. A ball-strikers course. It’s a links course but it’s fairly wide off the tee. When there’s no wind, scores will be pretty low – wind is the defence. I played the last six to eight holes in good wind and took advantage of the calm at the start of the day.”
Robin Sciot-Siegrist: “It’s a great start. I played pretty good, but I really putted really well. It was really hot and the conditions were okay compared to what’s going to happen. I think I wanted to make the most of it and it actually went my way, it’s very nice to start like that.
“It got tricky just towards the end. A couple of holes will be quite difficult, you need to be strategic with that wind and hang in there.”
Scores after Round One:
63 C HILL (SCO),
64 J CALDWELL (NIR),
65 R FISHER (ENG), R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA), C HANNA (USA),
66 C PAISLEY (ENG), A QUIROS (ESP), N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER),
67 B HENSON (USA), H LEON (CHI), S TARRIO (ESP), R RAMSAY (SCO), T TREE (ENG), S SHARMA (IND), D LAW (SCO), K REITAN (NOR), A OTAEGUI (ESP), L BJERREGAARD (DEN), M JORDAN (ENG), B EASTON (RSA),
68 J WALTERS (RSA), J SMITH (ENG), G FORREST (SCO), L SLATTERY (ENG), P FIGUEIREDO (POR), E DE LA RIVA (ESP),
69 A LEVY (FRA), S KIM (USA), C SHINKWIN (ENG), T KOIVISTO (USA), G STAL (FRA), D HILLIER (NZL), J MORRISON (ENG), G PORTEOUS (ENG),
70 M SIEM (GER), M FORD (ENG), R MCEVOY (ENG), G MOYNIHAN (IRL), Y CHANG (KOR),
71 O FARR (WAL), F LAPORTA (ITA), N ELVIRA (ESP), M KINHULT (SWE), S JAMIESON (SCO), D VAN DRIEL (NED), A CHESTERS (ENG), P WARING (ENG), A ZEMMER (ITA), D GAVINS (ENG), D DRYSDALE (SCO), B EVANS (ENG), N KEARNEY (IRL),
72 S HEND (AUS), A KARLSSON (SWE), J CAMPILLO (ESP), A BAUTISTA (AUS), R SANTOS (POR), E CUARTERO BLANCO (ESP), W BESSELING (NED), R ENOCH (WAL), D PAPADATOS (AUS), M ARMITAGE (ENG), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), D PERRIER (FRA), B RITTHAMMER (GER), F KENNEDY (AM) (ENG), S KAPUR (IND),
73 A SULLIVAN (ENG), R LUMSDEN (SCO), A CA?IZARES (ESP), C SYME (SCO), S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP), L SHEPHERD (AM) (ENG), D WHITNELL (ENG), L GAGLI (ITA), M KAWAMURA (JPN), C SHARVIN (NIR), J DONALDSON (WAL), H PORTEOUS (RSA), J KASKE (FIN),
74 J HANSEN (DEN), E PEPPERELL (ENG), G FOX (SCO), S KJELDSEN (DEN), D VAN TONDER (RSA), C PIGEM (ESP), R FOX (NZL), J SANDBORG (SWE), D DIXON (ENG), P ERIKSSON (SWE),
75 S YONGCHAROENCHAI (THA), G FDEZ-CASTA?O (ESP), J SURI (USA), C WOOD (ENG), C HOWIE (SCO), B DREDGE (WAL), R PARATORE (ITA), R WILLIAMS (ENG), P O’HARA (SCO), A SADDIER (FRA), M BALDWIN (ENG), D YOUNG (SCO), N H?JGAARD (DEN), J MCLEOD (AUS),
76 R ROCK (ENG), L VAN MEIJEL (NED), O FISHER (ENG), B HEBERT (FRA), O WILSON (ENG), D COUPLAND (ENG), J GEARY (NZL), G BHULLAR (IND), G STORM (ENG), S CHAWRASIA (IND), M SIMONSEN (DEN),
77 A SANDHU (IND), N LEMKE (SWE), D HOWELL (ENG), P PETERSON (USA), H LI (CHN), K BROBERG (SWE), M SCHMITT (GER),
78 T GANDY (IMN), M WARREN (SCO), R WATTEL (FRA), D LAWSON (AUS), L JOHNSTON (SCO),
79 T MCKIBBIN (NIR), J WINTHER (DEN), P ANGLES (ESP), P DUNNE (IRL), E WALKER (SCO), C SORDET (FRA),
80 J WRISDALE (ENG), R MCGOWAN (ENG), S GALLACHER (SCO), M SCHMID (GER), A COCKERILL (CAN),
81 D HORSEY (ENG), B POKE (DEN),
83 J BOLTON (ENG), J STALTER (FRA),
90 C DOAK (SCO)
