Day Out for Ormsby and Bland in Gothenberg

Ormsby in action today – Getty Images

Australia’s, Wade Ormsby, has the opening-round lead at the Scandinavian Invitation in Gothenburg in Sweden, but was joined in what was an enjoyable day for South Australians by Adam Bland, who holed a seven iron from 154 metres on the tenth hole to win a Volkswagen Touareg V6 TDI 4 Motion.

Ormsby, who other than a runner-up finish at the Vic Open in February has struggled for much of the 2019 season, played his opening nine in 6 under 28 suggesting a score even lower than his eventual 62 was possible.

He continued to play well over the closing nine but just two further birdies resulted in a round of 8 under and a one-shot lead over Joakim Largergren and Alexander Levy.

Pre-tournament favourite, Matthew Fitzpatrick, is another shot back at 6 under.

Ormsby made an early birdie at his 3rd hole (the 12th of the layout) but it would be a stunning eagle at the 14th that gave his round a huge boost and the momentum to finish his opening nine powerfully with birdies at his 7th, 8th and 9th holes.

“I made a pretty straight birdie on 12,” said Ormsby. “Then on 14, I was in between a five and a four iron, picked the right one and boxed it, so then I just got a bit of momentum through the final holes. I felt quite comfortable out there, I was holing my return putts and that kept the round going, which added up to 62.

“I felt like I had been hitting the ball quite well, I just wasn’t quite free enough in my putting, so I was working hard on that to get back to a point where I feel more comfortable and less into my technique. Putted well today, didn’t putt amazing, but holed what I needed too.”

Fitzpatrick has won this event previously although not at this venue but, as the highest world ranked player in the field, he started the week as a likely contender and thus far it has worked out that way despite a break of three weeks since his last event.

“Very pleased,” said Fitzpatrick. “I was a little apprehensive coming into the week as I just had three weeks off, and you don’t know what you are going to be dealing with when you have had a bit of time off, but it was a great start to the week.

“It is one round out of four for this week, so still a long way to go, but another three of them would be very nice. I’ll just keep doing what I am doing and keep putting myself into good positions, and that is all you can do really.

“Really scrambled well today. I missed a handful of greens and really got up-and-down when I needed too and that kept the momentum going in the round.”

Min Woo Lee opened with a round of 67 to be the next best of the Australians, Dimi Papadatos and Jason Scrivener 69 and Adam Bland and Brett Rumford 70.

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