Roussel grabs lead
manama — Robin Roussel, denied victory a couple of weeks ago in Oman, launched another spirited attempt to get into the winners’ circle in his first season on the Mena Tour by Arena when a sparkling seven-under par 65 opening round gave him a one-shot lead at the Troon Series – Royal Golf Bahrain Open on Monday.
At Ghala Golf in Muscat, the Frenchman shot a brilliant finalround 63 in windy conditions, but that wasn’t enough to beat a rampant Nick Marsh. But at the demanding Colin Montgomerie-designed Royal Golf Club in Manama, Roussel set the pace with his 65 and was one ahead of Joshua Grenville-Wood (66) of England.
In-form Englishman Harry Ellis, who closed with rounds of 64 and 66 in Dubai Hills last week, and Germany’s Stefan Still were tied for third place at five-under par 67. Scotland’s Daniel Kay (69) made the first hole-in-one of the 2019 season of the MENA Tour by Arena. He holed his tee shot on the 213-yard, par-3 second hole.
In the Amateur’s category, Dubai-based 14-year-old Josh Hill and England’s Jack Floydd were tied at the top after rounds of two-under par 70 each.
The Royal Golf Club is known for it’s severely sloping greens, and not many would have expected a 65 leading the tournament. But Roussel, who had only 5s and 3s on his back nine and birdied the five par4s, said he was never in any trouble.
“These greens are some of the toughest that I have seen in my three-year career as a professional golfer. Having said that, I played very well. I won’t say my golf was exceptional, but I did everything well,” said Roussel, who started with a bogey on the second hole and made eight birdies after that.
Grenville-Wood has had some good rounds this season but the consistency has been missing and he felt it was because he was trying to put too much pressure on himself to follow one good round with another.