Matt Allen and Graham Clark share the lead on the opening day of the latest event in the PGA EuroPro Tour season.
The pair both shot five-under at the Dunlop Classic at Bovey Castle in Devon as they bid for the £10,000 top prize. Allen has been in good form recently and came tied second last week after eventually losing out to Stuart Archibald in a five-hole play-off at Longhirst Hall.
Birdies at 2, 4, 8, 12, 15 and 16, along with a bogey at the fifth, have put Allen in a good position, while 2007 Order of Merit champion Clark (Doncaster GC) is also in contention for the glory. James Busby (The Shropshire), a top ten finisher at Castle Dargan earlier this month, would have joined Allen and Clark in the lead but bogeyed the par-five last.
Burhill runner-up Sean Doherty (Bury GC) is among those on three-under, as is Ben Jones (crownbush.co.uk). This pair are one shot ahead of last week’s winner Stuart Archibald (claimsjustice.co.uk), who would have been higher up the leaderboard if he had not collected two successive bogeys at the 14th and 15th.
Order of Merit leader Daniel Gaunt is a shot further back on one-under but Justin Evans (Wentworth Club), fifth on the order of merit list, faces a battle to make the cut after a double-bogey on the 12th contributed to a round of two-over.
Castle Dargan winner Ian Keenan (Royal Liverpool) enjoyed a good front nine but bogeys on the 13th and 18th dented his hopes and left him five behind the leaders.
Nick McCarthy (Moortown) led at Longhirst Hall last week and he made a bright start to this event with birdies at the sixth, seventh, 11th and 12th.
To find out full results from the opening day of the Dunlop Classic, please go to www.europrotour.com and click on the ‘Score Updates’ tab on the right-hand side.
Day Two of the three-day competition starts at 6.30am and the top 50 players and ties at the end of the second round will qualify for the final day.
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