PGA of Great Britain & Ireland Professional pairing, Matthew Cort and Craig Shave, pushed ahead in their campaign to take the out-right lead in the 2015 Golfbreaks.com Fourball Championship, aided by an ace from Cort on the fourth hole at Lumine’s Lakes Course.
Gusts of over 30mph were not enough to slow down the pairing who took full advantage of Cort’s hole-in-one to card a five-under 66 for a -13 total (130).
“We played ok, but we left a lot out there today,” said Shave. “Obviously the highlight was Matt’s hole-in-one but we didn’t hole many putts really.”
“We made a big statement yesterday when we didn’t drop a shot on the other course,” added Cort. “But we started with a bogey on the first today. We managed to get a couple back and five-under was a good target today.”
The pairing’s first bogey of the tournament came on their opening hole but was followed by an immediate bounce-back birdie at the second. Cort’s hole-in-one came at the 178m fourth hole where a precision 7-iron made its way into the cup:
“The wind was really gusting at that stage and we looked at the hole and the pin was only about 10 yards on…I said to Craig ‘how do you get it close?!’. I went with a 7-iron, hit a really good shot…didn’t really see it go in as it was over the brow of a hill. It’s my first hole-in-one in nine years…so it was great to get one in.”
Four more birdies and a single bogey finished off their round to lie one ahead of the chasing pack made up of four pairings – Ismael Del Castillo & Pablo Herreria (PGA of Spain), Florian Fritsch & Sascha Elender (PGA of Germany – pictured), Rafa Gallardo Moreno & Borja Garcia (PGA of Spain), and Adam Wootton & Richard Wallis (PGA of Great Britain & Ireland).
All four pairings sit at -12 (131) for the event whilst the top-22 pairings are within just five shots of the lead.
“We’ll have to look at what the weather is like,” said Germany’s Elender. “Then we’ll just play as we did today, try to have a lot of chances, and then when we putt as well as we did today we’ll have a chance.”
On the move of the final round to the Hills Course, GB&I’s Wootton (pictured right alongside Wallis) said, “In all honesty in tournament and practice rounds we’ve struggled on the Hills Course, so it might not suit us the most, but we’ll try and dovetail again like we did yesterday…and give ourselves two chances on every hole.”
42 pairings will compete across Lumine’s Hills Course after the final round was moved due to high winds forecasted in the local area. The final round gets underway at 09:00am CET, 01/30/2015.
For updates and full Round 1 scores visit http://eur.pe/2015Fourball.
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For more information on the Confederation of Professional Golf Golfbreaks.com Fourball Championship visit the Tournament Hub Page, follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter search the Hashtag ‘#FourballChamps’, or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.
With thanks to Golfbreaks.com (www.Golfbreaks.com/pga-pro), LUMINE Mediterránea Beach & Golf Club visit (www.lumine.com), Costa Daurada (www.CostaDaurada.info), Cambrils (www.Cabrils-Tourism.com), La Pineda Platja (www.LaPinedaPlatja.info), and Salou (www.visitsalou.eu).