Rookie Victor Dubuisson grabs lead in the opening round of Ballantine’s Championship
Frenchman Victor Dubuisson surged to the top of the leaderboard in the opening round of the star-studded Ballantine’s Championship after pulling a solid four-under, 68.
The young Frenchman, who is looking for his first professional victory, carded a stunning round at the scenic Blackstone Golf Club, edging past the blistering players in the field.
Dubuisson said, “Very pleased with playing four under today. My putting was really, really good today and I think it's the only way to achieve good scoring in these conditions. On the third hole the wind was from the left, and so on the fourth tee I thought
the wind was going to be sort of left to right, but the wind was turning all the time”.
Opening up with a birdie on the opening hole of the front nine, Dubuisson fell for a double-bogey six at par-four, 4th but got back to his groove earlier than it was anticipated.
He pulled in two consecutive birdies right after the fourth and made the turn one-under.
Dubuisson started off the back nine with a disappointing bogey on the 10th and went over to card three birdies before falling for yet another bogey at par-three, 16th.
He finished two shots better than a group of five players including Scotsman Richie Ramsay, Englishman Mark Foster and Paul Casey, Welshman Jamie Donaldson and Korean Ji-ho Jung.
The way Dubuisson recovered from his disastrous double-bogey and still claim the opening lead was lauded by many senior players on the field, although for Dubuisson it turned out to be a matter great mental stamina.
He added, “The wind just turned right to left and it went into the water. So I was not really upset after this double bogey because I didn't hit a bad shot”.
The Frenchman has managed to earn the European Tour card for the season after finishing fourth and 11th on the first two legs of the qualifying rounds.
The €2.2-million event kicked off at the scenic Blackstone Golf Club overlooking the scenic Korean capital of Seoul.
This is the fifth edition of the event co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Asian Tour.
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