Chris Doak takes the second position at the Challenge de Catalunya on day one
Chris Doak of Scotland carded a seven-under par 65, in the opening round of the Challenge de Catalunya, to take the second spot on the leaderboard, on Thursday, September 27, 2012.
The European Challenge Tour event is being played at the Golf La Graiera in Northern Spain, featuring some of the prominent names on the tour.
The Scott signed a total of nine birdies against two bogeys on his scorecard to hold a pack of five players, sitting one-stroke behind him.
Doak currently ranks 23rd in the European Challenge Tour Rankings. Therefore, he only needs one good finish to make it to the top-20 in the list.
According to the tier-one European Tour qualification criteria, the top-20 players from the Challenge Tour will get the opportunity of playing on the tour next year, without going to the Q-School.
So far, he seems to have moved on the right track, as he is just one stroke behind the leader, Jeppe Huldahl. Doak got off to a perfect start on a bright sunny day by birdying three of the first four holes that he played.
The fifth hole witnessed him drop a shot. However, he did not let the hiccup overshadow his performance and kept on playing good shots on the course.
A run of four straight birdies starting from the seventh hole, followed by another birdie on the 12th hole took him close to the lead. After turning in the ball for a birdie on the 16th hole, he was tied for the top spot.
However, a bogey on the 17th dragged him off the lead and took him to the second position on the leaderboard.
Despite making a poor end to his round, the Scott was pleased with his overall performance in Tarragona.
According to the golf commentators, Doak has a great chance of making a strong charge in the ranking, if he succeeds in maintaining consistency in the remaining three rounds.
Huldahl, in the meantime, was also happy to post a decent score on the leaderboard. The Dane was struggling with his form for the past few months.
“I have struggled this season and there is still a lot of work to be done but in the last couple of weeks my game has improved,” he said.
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