Mallorca Open first round latest
With several players yet to finish their round amid gusty conditions at p**a Golf Club, South Africa's James Kingston is the clubhouse leader at the first round of the Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca.
The South African's appearance here is his first following a two month lay-off, but with a five-under-par 65, Kingston dropped just one shot all afternoon, a bogey on the 3rd (which was Kingston's 12th, the player having started play on the 10th). That error was more than offset by six birdies, and consequently the 44-year-old leads by two strokes over Spain's Alvaro Velasco, who was on three-under after completing all 18 holes.
"We played in perfect conditions," said Kingston, whose last win came at last year's Mercedes-Benz Championship. "The course is great. It’s tricky, and with this wind it can become complicated.
"It’s a challenging course with tough tee shots, and it’s difficult to get the ball close to the hole.
"I kept the ball in play nicely off the tee and rolled it nicely. I have been playing decently lately, but still not well enough."
Tied for third place were Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen, France's Raphael Jacquelin, Ireland's Gary Murphy and Sweden's Pelle Edberg, all on two-under.
England's Chris Wood was tied for seventh place on one-under, as was countryman Andrew Marshall, though Marshall had only played up to the 8th at the time of writing. Spain's José Manuel Lara was on the same score, along with South Korea's Noh Seung-yul , who had played as far as the 11th.
With a less than stellar field, the highest ranked player here, Denmark's Soren Hansen, could only tie for 29th place after coming home one-over. But with several players still to finish, that placing could yet fall further.
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