Lloyd Saltman takes opening round lead at the Madeira Islands Open
Lloyd Saltman fired a eight-under par 64, in the opening round of the Madeira Islands Open – Portugal – BPI, to take a one-stroke lead over Richard Bland, on Thursday, May 16, 2013.
The tournament is being staged at the Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra, featuring some of the prominent names on the European Tour.
Right from the beginning of the first round, Saltman remained consistent in his game and did not allow anyone to come close to him on the leaderboard.
The Scot birdied four of the first five holes that he played to mark a stunning start to his campaign in Madeira. He then parred each of the next three holes, before adding another shot to his scorecard on the ninth hole, to reach the turn in five under.
The back nine of the course witnessed him draining four birdie putts, while conceding just a single bogey, to make a way for his maiden professional victory.
Talking to the European Tour’s official website, he expressed his pleasure in making a scintillating start to his campaign, and said that he focused on playing his natural game, especially when the strong winds were creating problems for the players on the
course.
According to him, his brilliant short game played a key role in posting a good score on the leaderboard. He now plans to keep the momentum going into the remaining three rounds, in a bid to join the winning circle on the European Tour this season.
“I'm very pleased with my round,” said Saltman, who became the low amateur in the 2005 Open Championship. “It wasn’t easy out there today, with the wind swirling and getting very strong at certain point.”
“I just played really well tee to green and made the putts I needed to make and my short game was really good as well so I can’t really pick any faults from that round,” he added. “I have put myself in a great position and I'm here to win. I've been working
very hard trying to get my game as good as I can and it’s nice to see the work paying off.”
Tags: