Fleetwood hails links specialist Jordan who fires a course record 63 to set the pace in Southport
Matthew Jordan, who doesn’t even hold a categor y for the C h a l l e n g e To u r, u p s t a g e d host Tommy Fleetwood and the rest of the European Tour players in the Lancashire lineup to set the pace in the Betfred British Masters.
On a day when world No 16 Fleetwood, the highest-ranked player in the field, was happy with an opening four-underpar 68, Jordan underlined his love for links golf by carding a course-record 63 to open up a t wo -shot lead over fellow Englishman Matt Wallace and Swede Marcus Kinhult.
As an amateur, 23-year-old H o y l a k e m a n Jo r d a n wo n t h e S t A n d r e ws L i n k s Tr o - phy in 2017 – he also finished runner-up to Liam Johnston in the S cottish Open Stroke Play Championship at Western Gailes that year – before storming to a nine -shot succ e s s i n t h e Ly t h a m Tr o p hy almost exactly 12 months ago.
He opted to turn professional at the end of last season rather than hanging around for a probable second Walker Cup appearance at Royal Liverpool, his home club, in September and the man who played off plus seven at one stage looks determined to make the most of this welcome opportunity.
“I only found out on Sunday that I had secured an invitation,” said Jordan after a brilliant b ogey-free effor t. “The l a t e r t h e b e t t e r, I s u p p o s e , because, if I’d had time, I’d have started thinking about it.”
The leader, who has played with Fleet wood on a couple of o ccasions at Royal Liverpool, added: “Links golf just suits my eye really, especially on the greens. I just seem to see the lines having been brought up on links.” This effort came a fortnight after he signed for a 10-under-par 62 in the Turkish Airlines Challenge. At the same time, though, he is not about to get ahead of himself. “It ’s only 18 holes,” said Jor - dan. “I’m just going to do what I need to do now and kind of r e f o c u s b e c a u s e I k n ow i t ’s going to be tough tomorrow. I need to get into that mindset to go again tomorrow. Today is a different day.”
F l e e t wo o d , wh o t h r i l l e d a huge crowd following his group with a polished performance that included an eagle-3 at the second, describ ed Jordan’s start as “tremendous” and is hoping it is just the boost Jordan has been looking for early on in his career in the paid r a n k s . “We a l l k n ow wh a t he’s capable of,” said the host. “I’ve seen some of his scores and he’s not played as well as I know he wants to this year, but when you’re first turning pro, it’s different. Now the expe - rience being at the top of the leaderboard for a few days will be really, really good for his confidence.”