Cormac Sharvin leads the English Championship

Cormac Sharvin’s opening round of 63 was enough to open up a one-shot cushion over a congested leaderboard as the inaugural English Championship got under way. As already reported, Shubhankar Sharma will need to get in a low round on Friday to make the cut. He started with an even 71, that placed him well outside the projected cut line. The predictive model of Data Golf suggests that the cut could fall between 3-under and 5-under after 36 holes.

The Northern Irishman dropped just two shots to reach eight under par on a day of perfect scoring conditions at Hanbury Manor Marriot Hotel and Country Club to move one ahead of a group of six players.

“It was a nice round, played really well, Didn’t do too much wrong. Put it on the fairway, hit a lot of good shots and holed a few putts as well and it all added up to 63. Pretty happy to start well. A long way to go but it’s always nice to shoot a good score on the first day and not put yourself out of it,” Sharvin said.

“I feel like last week I didn’t play too badly, I just struggled on the greens. I did a lot of work with Dean (Robertson) my old college coach who has been caddying for me on the UK Swing. Did a lot of work on my putting process and it seemed to work today. Hopefully it keeps going in that direction and see where it takes us.”

English pair Laurie Canter and David Howell had both held the lead before dropping shots on the 17^th to fall back into the pack, ending round one of the third event of the UK Swing alongside Belgian Thomas Detry, Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe and Australians Min Woo Lee and Jason Scrivener.

“I got off to a great start. I said to my caddie on the putting green I didn’t feel like I was getting to grips with the greens. Then on the first hole I holed a 60-footer right across it. Funny how that happened. Played really nicely. I’d have that swing back on 17, but I’m happy with today,” said Canter.

“I have tried to do things a bit differently because we have the opportunity to. I’ve always played with keeping the card hanging over my head. Someone I work with asked “how are you going to approach the game differently?” It’s not rocket science. I’ve tried to do a couple of things, it’s early to say it’s working, I’ve only played nine rounds. It’s been more enjoyable – which is one thing I’ve taken out of it and I’m having fun out there. We’ll see how long that continues.”

They sit one shot ahead of a group of nine players, including Belgian Ryder Cup player Nicolas Colsaerts and rising Danish star Rasmus Højgaard, who recorded rounds of 65 to sit at six under par as the European Tour returned to the Hertfordshire venue for the first time since 1999.

Round One Scores

63 C SHARVIN (NIR),
64 T DETRY (BEL), L CANTER (ENG), D HOWELL (ENG), J SCRIVENER (AUS), M LEE (AUS), S VINCENT (ZIM),
65 D DRYSDALE (SCO), R BLAND (ENG), R LANGASQUE (FRA), N COLSAERTS (BEL), B STONE (RSA), C SYME (SCO), M SIMONSEN (DEN), J SENIOR (ENG), A OTAEGUI (ESP), R HOJGAARD (DEN), O LENGDEN (SWE), R WATTEL (FRA),
66 R ENOCH (WAL), R RAMSAY (SCO), M JIMENEZ (ESP), A JOHNSTON (ENG), A SULLIVAN (ENG), D BURMESTER (RSA), A MERONK (POL), B EASTON (RSA), S BROWN (ENG), L WESTWOOD (ENG), T OLESEN (DEN), M SCHMITT (GER), M ANTCLIFF (AUS), N LEMKE (SWE),
67 A COCKERILL (CAN), N HOJGAARD (DEN), A ROZNER (FRA), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), O FISHER (ENG), J DONALDSON (WAL), R ROUSSEL (FRA), M JORDAN (ENG), T TREE (ENG), J VEERMAN (USA), R FOX (NZL), J HARDING (RSA), B EVANS (ENG), S KIM (USA), K SAMOOJA (FIN), M SCHNEIDER (GER), E FERGUSON (SCO),
68 J SMITH (ENG), M WARREN (SCO), C PAISLEY (ENG), R SANTOS (POR), M ARMITAGE (ENG), L GAGLI (ITA), D HORSEY (ENG), C SHINKWIN (ENG), E DE LA RIVA (ESP), A SADDIER (FRA), W NIENABER (RSA), M BALDWIN (ENG), A RAI (ENG), A PAVAN (ITA), D LAW (SCO), J SINGH BRAR (ENG), A CHESTERS (ENG), N ELVIRA (ESP), J SURI (USA),
69 S CROCKER (USA), D COUPLAND (ENG), L SLATTERY (ENG), D PERRIER (FRA), B RITTHAMMER (GER), F LAPORTA (ITA), B POKE (DEN), S KJELDSEN (DEN), L DE JAGER (RSA), R MCGOWAN (ENG), L JOHNSTON (SCO), L VAN MEIJEL (NED), R KARLBERG (SWE), G MIGLIOZZI (ITA), G GREEN (MAS), P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP), R PARATORE (ITA), J HANSEN (DEN), C PIGEM (ESP), J MCLEOD (AUS), D HUIZING (NED), A CA?IZARES (ESP),
70 P DUNNE (IRL), T BJORN (DEN), R MCEVOY (ENG), J MORRISON (ENG), M CAMPBELL (NZL), K REITAN (NOR), T PULKKANEN (FIN), T GANDY (IMN), B STOW (ENG), D YOUNG (SCO), J GUERRIER (FRA), J STALTER (FRA), W BESSELING (NED), J WALTERS (RSA), G FDEZ-CASTA?O (ESP), M KIEFFER (GER),
71 E CUARTERO BLANCO (ESP), D WHITNELL (ENG), O WILSON (ENG), G PORTEOUS (ENG), S HEND (AUS), S SHARMA (IND), G STORM (ENG), R FISHER (ENG), M PAVON (FRA),
72 O FARR (WAL), J CALDWELL (NIR), A QUIROS (ESP), M KAWAMURA (JPN), J KRUYSWIJK (RSA), J SJ?HOLM (SWE),
73 S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP), Z LOMBARD (RSA), S TILEY (ENG), S HORSFIELD (ENG), H PORTEOUS (RSA),