Robert Dinwiddie and Stuart Manley lead English Challenge
Robert Dinwiddie and Stuart Manley shared the top spot after almost identical bogey-free rounds at the Challenge Tour’s English Challenge at the Nayland Hotel, Golf & Spa on Thursday, July 26, 2012.
Both the players fired a seven-under par 65 each to take a one-stroke lead over Francis McGuirk, who failed to take the share of the lead because of a single bogey in his round.
Dinwiddie got off to a confident start and recorded a birdie to open his account in England. Another three birdies on the front nine took him to four-under for the round.
The back nine also witnessed him play some good shots and he created several birdies chances. However, he succeeded in capitalizing only three of the final five holes and surged to the top of the leaderboard.
“It’s not an easy course and you can easily get out of position,” said the 29 year old. “But I found in the Pro-Am that I was reading the greens well and I feel like I've been putting well all year, I just needed to read the greens better”.
Meanwhile, Manley also got off to a confident start, as he sank a difficult 20 birdie putt on the opening hole of his round. He recorded a stunning eagle on the fifth hole prior to adding another four birdies to his scorecard.
“I am high on confidence,” said the 33 year old. “I've been playing nicely recently. ...I'm hitting the ball well now and I’ll do well if I can do that because I normally putt pretty well. I am confident because there’s no pressure on me at the moment and
as long as I'm committed I’ll do well”.
According to him, he has a complete plan of going aggressive throughout the week, which, according to him, is a good approach to follow if he wants to record a win in the tournament.
He confidently said that his short game is doing well for the last few months. Therefore, he can take chances and even if he misses the greens, he can create balance through his game on the greens.
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