Winther sets pace in Belgium

Denmark’s Jeff Winther made a flying start to the KPMG Trophy at Villers, Belgium, with a sevenunder-par 65.

The 27-year-old set the benchmark high with a superb round featuring nine birdies and two bogeys, making light work of the windy conditions at Golf de Pierpont to lead by two shots from a group of five players – Englishman Gary Boyd, Spaniard Agustin Domingo, FrenchmanEdouard Dubois, Sweden’s Jacob Glennemo and Dutchman Taco Remkes.

Winther was left ruing a bogey at the par-3 ninth – his final hole, having teed off fromthe 10th– butoverall was happy with his opening effort.

“I’m annoyed about the last and the other bogey on the 18th, but it’s OK, that’s golf,” he said. “I hit a lot of shots really close – I had six putts inside 6ft.”

Winther was a rookie on theChallenge Tour last season, havinggraduatedfrom the Nordic League in 2013, and feels he is ready to make the next step.

“I want it so badly this year,” he added. “Last year was like a test for me to see what the Challenge Tour was like and see how I got on.”

Glennemo and Remkes were the only bogey-free players in the top 20, the latter attributing his impressive start to a hot putter.

“This is a totally different golf course from what we’ve played all year,” said Remkes. “It’s super hard, very firm. The greens are good – it’s quite linksy.”

Peter Whiteford was the leading Scot on 68. The inaugural Paul Lawrie Golf Centre par 3 championship gets under way tomorrow at the former Open champion’s Deeside venue.

The £14,000 event carries a first prize of £3,000. Every hole in one will be rewarded with £1,000.

Tournament host Lawrie tees off at 1.58pm tomorrow alongside Kris Nicol and Greg McBain.

Tomorrow’s first-round draw: