Mallorca Open:South African James Kingston capitalised on the best of the conditions to take the first round lead at the European Tour's event in Majorca today. Out on the Pula course early before the wind really picked up, the 44-year-old returned a five-under-par 65 at the Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca.
Kingston ended the day two in front of Spaniard Alvaro Velasco, with Ireland’s Gary Murphy, Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin, Spain’s Alejandro Canizares and Norwegian Thorbjorn Olesen one further back.
The two-time Tour winner said: “I didn’t have a nice day out there yesterday and it’s not one of my favourites, but I was hitting it so well that it was actually an easy round of 65.
“It’s tricky even without a wind, but when you play nicely you can see the scores.”
Kingston, who birdied three of his last six holes as things became more blustery, is only recently back from a seven-week break during which he visited Zambia and Mozambique with friends and family.
Velasco lost his Tour card last season and did not even make the 72-hole cut at the qualifying school in November.
His ranking on the Spanish order of merit earned him his place in the tournament and he came home in 32 with birdies at the first, fourth and sixth.
Murphy was another back at the school and, although the 37-year-old from Kilkenny made it through, he has since managed to survive only two cuts in 10 starts.
“I’ve been struggling with the groove change,” he said. “I’m on my fifth set of irons, but have finally got some I feel are doing what they should do.”
He was four under after seven, gave all the shots back, but then birdied the seventh and eighth to climb back into a tie for third.
The rest of the Irish contingent struggled as the wind picked up for the later starters.
Glasson’s Colm Moriarty had a promising start as he birdied third but three bogeys and a double-bogey at the 14th saw him sign for a four-over 74, the same score posted by Damien McGrane.
Paul McGinley was a shot further back after a round that included three birdies, six bogeys and a double at the 14th also.
Simon Thornton was five over through his first nine holes before withdrawing from the tournament.
SCOREBOARD
(Par 70, British and Irish unless stated)
65James Kingston (Rsa).
67Alvaro Velasco (Spa).
68 Gary Murphy, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra).
69Chris Wood, Marco Soffietti (Ita), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa).
70Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Andrew Tampion (Aus), Liam Bond, Adam Gee, Luis Claverie (Spa), Richard McEvoy, Stuart Manley, Gary Clark, Marco Ruiz (Par), Jamie McLeary, Andrew Marshall, Santiago Luna (Spa), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Manuel Quiros (Spa).
71Andrew Butterfield, Mark Tullo (Chi), Moises Cobo (Spa), Robert Dinwiddie, Soren Hansen (Den), Peter Gustafsson (Swe), Matthew Zions (Aus), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Simon Wakefield, Antonio Ferrer (Spa), Andrew McArthur, Keith Horne (Rsa).
72Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Branden Grace (Rsa), Mikko Korhonen (Fin), Steven O'Hara, Xavier Guzman (Spa), Peter Hanson (Swe), Scott Hend (Aus), Lee Slattery, Francois Calmels (Fra), Tim Stewart (Aus), Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Christophe Brazillier (Fra), Simon Khan, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Robert Coles, Sam Hutsby, Carl Suneson (Spa), Mark F Haastrup (Den), Andrew Willey, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra).
73Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), John Parry, Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Victor Riu (Fra), Gregory Havret (Fra), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Christian Cevaer (Fra), George Murray, Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Anton Haig (Rsa), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Scott Drummond, Javier Colomo (Spa), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Tony Carolan (Aus), Ghislain Rosier (Fra), Philip Golding.
74 Colm Moriarty, Hennie Otto (Rsa),
Damien McGrane, Oliver Whiteley, Jorge Campillo (Spa), Klas Eriksson (Swe), Julien Guerrier (Fra), Callum Macaulay, Alvaro Salto (Spa), Pedro Linhart (Spa), Phillip Archer, Miles Tunnicliff, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), Charles-edouard Russo (Fra), Cesar Monasterio (Arg).
75Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe), Andrew Coltart, Andrew Dodt (Aus), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Johan Axgren (Swe), Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger), Miguel Pujalte sastre (Chn), Borja Etchart (Spa), Sam Little, Steve Surry,
Paul McGinley,Fredrik Widmark (Swe).
76Chris Gane, Benn Barham, Peter Baker, Julien Quesne (Fra), David Lynn, George Coetzee (Rsa), Kenneth Ferrie, Eric Ramsay, Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Andrea Perrino (Ita), Thomas Levet (Fra).
77Gabriel Canizares (Spa), Martin Wiegele (Aut), David Vanegas (Col).
78Andrea Maestroni (Ita), Garry Houston, Jesus Legarrea (Spa), Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Christoph Gunther (Ger), Louis Moolman (Rsa), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Raul Quiros (Spa), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut).
79Jordi Garcia (Spa), Sion E Bebb, Scott Strange (Aus), Nicolas Meitinger (Ger).
80James Ruth, Lloyd Kennedy, Anthony Snobeck (Fra).
81Chris Gaunt (Aus), Jose Juaneda (Spa).
82Michiel Bothma (Rsa).
83Jamie Elson, Seve Benson.
WD: 80Carlos Rodiles (Spa).
RTD: Simon Thornton.