Volvo China Open: Brett Rumford off to another strong start on the European Tour
Brett Rumford fired a bogey-free four-under par 68, in the opening round of the Volvo China Open, to share the second spot on the leaderboard, on Thursday, May 2, 2013.
Rumford, who won the Ballantine’s Championship last week, looked in great touch, as he did not make a single mistake throughout a day, to enter into contention for the top spot, right from the beginning of the tournament.
The highlights of his performance included 30 and 40 feet birdie putts on the 10th and the 11th hole, respectively.
He started off with a par putt on the first hole, followed by a birdie on the second hole. He then parred each of the next seven holes that he played, to reach the turn in one-under.
The back nine of the course witnessed him picking up some pace, as he birdied the 10th, 11th and the 15th hole, to finish two strokes behind the leader Robert-Jan Derksen.
Talking to the European Tour’s official website, he said that he did not rest after winning at Blackstone, and travelled to Tianjin, China. However, he took rest on Monday and Tuesday to refresh his mind, before participating in the Pro-Am event held on
Wednesday.
According to him, it was a bit difficult to play under windy conditions. However, he did not lose his focus and kept playing his natural game, which allowed him to post a decent score on the leaderboard.
“I didn't get much sleep on Sunday night and then I took Monday and Tuesday to recover,” said the Australian. “Wednesday I just played the pro-am, so that was my practice for the week to give myself a chance to recover and get the body right.”
“Mentally I feel nice and fresh, and obviously it was a bit of a mental grind out there with the wind,” he added. “You had to be really patient, so it was a good test for the first round back after my victory last week. It's just a matter of 'keep doing
what you're doing'.”
Derksen, in the meantime, recorded eight birdies, against two bogeys, to finish day one on top of the leaderboard.
Tags: