Bradley Bawden, John Parry, Nicolai Kristensen and Sebastian Friedrichsen all posted seven under par rounds of 63 to share a one-shot lead heading into day two of the Abu Dhabi Challenge at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Club.
Englishman Bawden carded four consecutive birdies in his opening five holes, before adding two more gains at the par four 16th and par five 18th to make the turn at six under par. Two birdies and a bogey on the back nine saw him finish the day in a tie for the lead.
The 27-year-old was pleased with how he dealt with the more difficult afternoon conditions and is focused on building on his strong start in Abu Dhabi.
“I’m very happy with my round today,” he said. “I played particularly well this afternoon as the wind picked up and the greens were firm. It became trickier throughout the day but I was able to put the ball in the right spots and hole a few putts which was pleasing.”
“I need to keep doing what I’m doing and following the same process. I’ve been working hard on trying to be consistent throughout tournaments and hopefully I can convert my good start and be successful this week.”
Co-leader Kristensen made the most of calm morning conditions to climb to the top of the leaderboard and he was especially pleased with his efforts after adverse weather conditions affected his pre-event practice.
“My scoring was really good today,” he said. “I’ve been working quite hard back home and I’m starting to see some results. The progression is there.”
“With the rainfall earlier this week I wasn’t able to get any practice in until yesterday, when the course was a lot more windy, so I felt like today I played the course for the first time”.
The leading quartet are one shot clear of eight players at six under par, including Emirati Joshua Grenville-Wood, Danes Jonathan Gøth-Rasmussen and Hamish Brown, Englishmen Sam Hutsby and David Horsey, German Nicolai Von Dellingshausen, South African Justin Walters, and Switzerland’s Jeremy Freiburghaus.
Round two will get under way at 6:30am local time tomorrow, with Bawden set to tee it up at 8:20am alongside Norwegian Andreas Halvorsen and Irishman Ronan Mullarney, while Kristensen heads out at 1:10pm alongside Scotland’s Euan Walker and the Ireland’s Gary Hurley.
