The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Thomson takes Silkeborg lead
Low score the perfect start for 6ft 9in giant at Made in Denmark event
Jonathan Thomson shot the lowest round of his European Tour career to take a two-stroke lead on the opening day at the Made in Denmark event.
The 22-year-old, who was diagnosed with leukaemia aged seven before going into remission five years later, carded an eight-under 63 at Silkeborg Golf Club.
A group of six, including England’s Matthew Baldwin, are two shots back with a total of 18 players inside the top 10 as scoring is good.
“It’s fantastic to get off to a great start for a change,” said the 6ft 9in Thomson, affectionately known as “Jigger”, who is battling to secure his playing privileges for next season.
“I have been playing some great golf recently but not scoring, so to get off to a low-scoring start today was great.
“I had a good lesson on iron play in Prague last week and it has really tightened up my iron play and given me more opportunities to give myself more birdie chances.
“Last week I played fantastic and didn’t hole anything, whereas today I played to a similar level and holed some putts.
“It would be great for me to have a positive result this week.”
In the race for the final automatic qualifying place for the Ryder Cup team English duo Matthew Fitzpatrick and Eddie Pepperell opened with rounds of 72 and 70 respectively.
Both need to win to potentially dislodge local favourite Thorbjorn Olesen, who shot a 73. Bradley Neil had a one under par round which included five birdies and one bogey but Connor Syme struggled to a five over par 77, which included a triple bogey seven at the second hole.
David Drysdale is top Scot after his opening 68.