The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Neil gets off to solid start in Hong Kong
Blairgowrie golfer puts European Tour card to use and opens with 71
Bradley Neil has given himself a good chance of making the cut in his first event since securing a European Tour card.
The Blairgowrie golfer posted a respectable one-over-par 71 in the first round of the UBS Hong Kong Open.
It left him in a tie for 47th, six shots back from leader SSP Chawrasia.
The only other Scot in the field, David Drysdale, was two shots behind Neil at three over.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick believes he is right on track to erase his Dubai disappointment after an opening 66.
Fitzpatrick led by a shot at halfway in the defence of his DP World Tour Championship title last week, but struggled to a third round of 72 and finished 12th.
That was still the 23-year-old from Sheffield’s seventh straight top-15 finish since winning the Omega European Masters.
A round containing six birdies and two bogeys at Fanling left him just a shot off Chawrasia.
“It’s a good start to the week,” said Fitzpatrick.
“It’s not an easy course and listening to Justin Rose talking after the pro-am, he said four rounds of four under would be a good score. I’d definitely take that right now and see where you end up.”
Four days after being crowned European number one for the first time, Tommy Fleetwood shrugged off the effects of playing his fifth event in a row with a 68 matched by Race to Dubai rival Rose.
“Everything felt good,” said the Englishman, who finished just 58,821 points ahead of Olympic champion Rose on the money list.
“It was nice out there, on such a tough day, to have quite a few chances and be stress-free for the most part. My putting felt really good and I had a few that burnt the edge.”
Rose, who won in Hong Kong in 2015, looked on course to finish ahead of Fleetwood until a bogey on the 18th, where he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker.
Masters champion Sergio Garcia also bogeyed the tricky 18th in a round of 69.