The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Syme makes impressive start to professional career
Connor Syme made a solid start to life as a professional with an opening 68 at the Portugal Masters at Vilamoura yesterday.
The Fife golfer, who announced his switch from the amateur ranks earlier this week, finished the day at three under par, just four shots off the lead held by Holland’s Joost Luiten and South African George Coetzee.
Drumoig’s Syme, fresh from his Walker Cup appearance last week in Los Angeles, is playing on an invitation this week and overcame a nervous start to climb up the leaderboard.
Syme bogeyed his second hole after starting at the 10th but responded well to birdie the 14th and 15th.
Another bogey at the 18th saw him reach the turn at level par 36, but three birdies on his back nine saw him finish in a group tied for 27th place that also included fellow Scots Duncan Stewart and Scott Jamieson.
Marc Warren was top Scot after the opening round with his 67 while Russell Knox and Paul Lawrie both shot 69s.
Luiten bounced back from the disappointment of an early exit in defence of his KLM Open title to claim a share of the lead.
Luiten carded seven birdies in a bogey-free 64 to join Coetzee at the top of the board.
“It was a tough week last week for me, missing the cut by one, but the good thing about golf is there’s always next week,” five-time European Tour winner Luiten said.
“I knew my game wasn’t far off and it’s good that today showed I’m getting in the right shape.”
Defending champion Padraig Harrington carded a bogey-free 67 matched by England’s Jack Singh Brar, another playing in his first event as a professional.
Leading scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
64 Joost Luiten (Ned), George Coetzee (Rsa)
65 Jason Scrivener (Aus), Ashun Wu (Chn), Callum Shinkwin, Nino Bertasio (Ita), Gregory Havret (Fra)
66 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den), Dean Burmester (Rsa), Laurie Canter, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Eddie Pepperell, Nacho Elvira (Spa), Richard Sterne (Rsa)
67 Anders Hansen (Den), Jack Singh Brar, Jorge Campillo (Spa), David Boote, David Lingmerth (Swe), Ashley Chesters, Graeme Storm, Oliver Fisher, Marc Warren, Padraig Harrington, Richard Green (Aus).
Other scores included:
68 Scott Jamieson, Duncan Stewart, Connor Syme
69 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Paul Lawrie,Russell Knox 70 David Drysdale
71 Danny Willett
73 Craig Lee
74 Stephen Gallacher, Alfie Plant
76 Ewan Ferguson