04 February 2021: David Horsey and Stephen Gallacher were delighted with their upturn in form on day one of the Saudi International at Royal Greens. Shubhankar Sharma scored 69, laced with three birdies. The Indian is coming off a good week in the Dubai Desert Classic, though the finish left him wanting more than the T22 finish.
Shubhankar made birdies at the par-5 fourth hole, before adding two more at the 7th and 13th. But bogeys on the par-3 third and par-4 fourteenth dented a good round. He is lying T49 and will hope that an improvement in driving accuracy from the 57% can help him move up the order. Shubhankar took 31 putts on Thursday, making 78% of the greens in regulation.
Horsey’s nine under par 61 gave him a one shot clubhouse lead over Gallacher on the opening morning at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club. England’s Horsey has finished in the top 100 on the Race to Dubai in ten of the last 12 seasons, but missed the cut in his first two events of 2021.
“It’s a shock actually,” he said, after carding nine birdies – seven of which came in a spectacular inward 28. “I’ve been playing rubbish the last couple weeks. Didn’t feel like I controlled my ball the first two events.
“I had a conversation with a pal back home last night, talking a few things through and he suggested something that I work on away from the tournament.
“Knowing me, I thought, well, can’t get any worse, so I may as well try it and here we are.
“It’s really just how my body is moving – quite sort of technical really. It’s nice to have a feel you can wake up and pick up straight away.
“I didn’t really feel like I missed many shots. I holed a couple of nice, lengthy putts as well and it all adds up to 61.”
Two of Gallacher’s four European Tour titles have come in the Middle East but the Scot endured a difficult 2020 campaign as he finished 173rd in the Race to Dubai Rankings Presented by Rolex.
Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger sits third after shooting a 64, with U.S. Open Championship winner Bryson DeChambeau amongst those on five under. The American was joined in a share of fourth by Belgian Thomas Pieters, China’s Li Haotong, New Zealander Ryan Fox, Scotland’s Calum Hill and Swede Marcus Kinhult.
Scores after round one:
61 D HORSEY (ENG),
62 S GALLACHER (SCO),
64 B WIESBERGER (AUT),
65 R FOX (NZL), T PIETERS (BEL), C HILL (SCO), H LI (CHN), M KINHULT (SWE), B DECHAMBEAU (USA),
66 M KAWAMURA (JPN), A SULLIVAN (ENG), G COETZEE (RSA), L CANTER (ENG), F ZANOTTI (PAR), J VEGAS (VEN), M KORHONEN (FIN),
67 A ROZNER (FRA), T KANAYA (JPN), K KITAYAMA (USA), D JOHNSON (USA), L WESTWOOD (ENG), J LUITEN (NED), T HATTON (ENG), V PEREZ (FRA), M KAYMER (GER), T DETRY (BEL), J MORRISON (ENG), I POULTER (ENG), D WILLETT (ENG), J WINTHER (DEN),
68 J HARDING (RSA), A OTAEGUI (ESP), P MICKELSON (USA), T FLEETWOOD (ENG), T FINAU (USA), J ROSE (ENG), A WU (CHN), S BROWN (ENG), J WALTERS (RSA), R MCGOWAN (ENG), M PAVON (FRA), C PAISLEY (ENG), O WILSON (ENG), S CROCKER (USA), V HOVLAND (NOR), C BEZUIDENHOUT (RSA), G MIGLIOZZI (ITA), M SCHWAB (AUT),
69 M LORENZO-VERA (FRA), P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP), R LANGASQUE (FRA), D BURMESTER (RSA), M LEE (AUS), K NA (USA), S SHARMA (IND), R STERNE (RSA), J CAMPILLO (ESP), S KJELDSEN (DEN), S AL KURDI (AM) (JOR), K SAMOOJA (FIN), A ARNAUS (ESP), R CABRERA BELLO (ESP), A RAI (ENG), J JANEWATTANANOND (THA), J SURI (USA), P REED (USA), G FORREST (SCO), R FISHER (ENG), P CASEY (ENG), J CATLIN (USA), J STALTER (FRA),
70 S GARCIA (ESP), S LOWRY (IRL), K BROBERG (SWE), F LAPORTA (ITA), B STONE (RSA), J HANSEN (DEN), H PORTEOUS (RSA), J GUERRIER (FRA), H HALL (ENG), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), D LAW (SCO), D DRYSDALE (SCO), R H?JGAARD (DEN), G MCDOWELL (NIR), A JOHNSTON (ENG), A CHESTERS (ENG), D LIPSKY (USA), J KOKRAK (USA), L HERBERT (AUS), C SHARVIN (NIR), G HIGGO (RSA),
71 P WARING (ENG), W ORMSBY (AUS), B HEBERT (FRA), N ELVIRA (ESP), M KIEFFER (GER), D HOWELL (ENG), A QUIROS (ESP), J SMITH (ENG), G GREEN (MAS), W NIENABER (RSA), A ANCER (MEX), R MACINTYRE (SCO), S HEND (AUS), A LEVY (FRA), V DUBUISSON (FRA), O ALMULLA (KSA), L GAGLI (ITA),
72 E ROUSAUD (AM) (ESP), Z LOMBARD (RSA), H STENSON (SWE), M JIM?NEZ (ESP), O FISHER (ENG), J DONALDSON (WAL), R PARATORE (ITA), A BJ?RK (SWE)
European Tour Release, Feb 04, 2021
