Former Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts surged to the summit of the leaderboard early on Thursday morning, as a seven-under round of 65 took the Belgian into a share of the lead alongside Ricardo Gonzalez and Maximilian Kieffer after the opening day of the 70° Open d’Italia Lindt in Turin.
The big-hitter was among the early starters who took full advantage of the Club Golf Torino, before the greens firmed up in the afternoon resulting in slightly higher scores. Colsaerts started with a bogey at the 10th, before unleashing a stunning barrage of six consecutive birdies to set the tone of what would be a more than satisfactory round.
The charismatic 30-year-old, who played a huge role in Europe’s remarkable Ryder Cup victory last year at Medinah, would birdie the 18th, before producing a solid second nine of eight pars and one final birdie, which came on the ninth.
After having to withdraw from the KLM Open last week due to flu, Colsaerts spent a few days recuperating at home, with his mother’s home cooking providing the perfect tonic.
“Nothing beats a couple of days at home with your Mum looking after you,” he said. “I was sitting on a sofa watching the golf and I was quite happy.
”When the weather’s like this it is a very nice place, it’s a nice park it’s a nice golf course – you’ve got the mountains just over the back.
”I got on a roll early and got pretty low under par. I got a bit sloppy on the front nine and I was just a bit too far away from flags to shoot ten under or something.”
The mercurial Gonzalez has missed his last three cuts since losing out in a playoff to Tommy Fleetwood at Gleneagles. But the 43-year-old from Argentina was in a relaxed mood on the course, and he feels that made the difference as he expertly plotted his away around the course in just 65 strokes.
“I hit it perfect, I only missed two shots from the tee,” said Gonzalez. “Then I hit fairways, hit greens, made some good putts and that’s why I shot 65.
”I tried to relax the last two or three weeks but I played with little tension. On Tuesday’s practice I said ‘come on, relax’ and it worked.
”I’m feeling very good and we’ll see what happens over the next three days.”
Also looking forward to the three days ahead is Maximilian Kieffer, who has enjoyed an excellent rookie season on the Tour. The 23-year-old German came into this week ranked 77th in the Race to Dubai, with the top 60 progressing to the lucrative Dubai World Championship in November. Qualifying for that final event is a more than achievable goal for the one-time winner on the Challenge Tour.
He said: “I’m very happy, 65 is a very good score. I didn’t feel so good coming here because I wasn’t hitting it that well the last few weeks and I’ve had a cold.
”I wasn’t really expecting a lot and I just took it shot for shot. Mentally it’s nice to shoot a good score, you always feel better when you’re playing well and have a good score so hopefully I’ll have another three good rounds.”
The popular Australian Marcus Fraser is just a shot off the lead at 6-under, with Steve Webster and David Higgins and 5-under. Italian favourite Francesco Molinari is among the group at 4-under, and he well hope to repeat Joost Luiten’s heroics from last week by claiming victory on home soil.
Returning to the competitive sphere of golf this week was two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen. The South African has suffered from debilitating back troubles during the past couple of years, with a recurrence in May resulting in a four-month absence from the game. On Tuesday, Goosen played his first 18 hole round since that injury, and the 44-year-old came into this week with no real expectations.
However, he navigated his way around the course in a controlled fashion, eventually settling for a two-under round of 70 that comprised of only one bogey in the more difficult afternoon conditions. Positive for Goosen, who will also play at next week’s lucrative Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
Goosen will start Friday morning five shots off the lead held by the colourful and cosmopolitan threesome of Ricardo Gonzalez, Maximilian Kieffer and Nicolas Colsaerts.