Challenge Tour Grand Final 1st round

Martin Dempster reports from the first round of the Challenge Tour Grand Final at Club de Golf Alcanada, Port d'Alcúdia, Mallorca.

Transcript

00:00 Hello, it's Martin Dempster, the Scotsman Golf Correspondent, coming to you from a very

00:07 windy Club de Golf Alcanada in Mallorca, where the opening round of the Rolex Challenge Tour

00:16 Grand Final, supported by the R&A, was halted around lunchtime.

00:23 We started this morning, the wind was about 15mph, gradually got up and it was gusting

00:31 up to 45mph at the time the decision was taken to halt play.

00:37 By then it was clear that it was becoming unplayable, some players felt the decision

00:43 could maybe have been made an hour beforehand, but these things happen in golf, players will

00:51 feel hard done too by the fact that they had to play two or three holes in really tough

00:57 conditions.

00:58 Ewan Walker, one of two Scots in the field, he was one of the players who finished.

01:03 Ewan sits 20th in the Road to Mallorca rankings and is on course to secure a DP World Tour

01:11 card next season.

01:12 He opened with a one over par 73, took a 5 at the last which was down to the conditions,

01:19 playing downwind, went through the back of the green when that wouldn't have happened

01:23 otherwise.

01:24 But he played a really, really solid round of golf, very impressive in fact.

01:28 He's got a great temperament, Ewan, and he needed that out there today.

01:33 The clubhouse lead was set by Englishman Marco Penge and the group ahead of Ewan Walker,

01:39 with a 3 under par 69, with only three other players in red figures when play restarts

01:46 on Friday morning at 8am.

01:48 Craig Howie, the other Scot in the field, Craig needs to either win or finish second

01:53 this week to jump into a card position.

01:56 He's 5 over with four holes to play.

02:01 The wind is still set to be blowing for the rest of the week but thankfully not as strong

02:07 as it is at the moment.

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