Challenge Tour Grand Final day one round up

Martin Dempster reports from Mallorca

Transcript

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

00:08Port de Alcudia, home of Club de Golf Alcanada, which for the third year running is staging

00:19the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final, supported by the R&A.

00:27It's the season finale, with 20 DP World Tour cards up for grabs, and at the end of the

00:34opening round, it's a Spaniard, Angel Ayora, who is out in front.

00:41He shot a 10 under par, 62, splendid effort, albeit in conditions that were a lot easier

00:49than we've seen here over the last couple of years, not nearly as much wind as we've

00:54had. Nonetheless, an effort that saw him come home in 30 and cover the last 11 holes

01:04in 8 under par was very impressive indeed, and it's given him a one-shot lead over the

01:11Dane, Rasmus Niergaard-Petersen, who has already secured his step up to the DP World

01:18Tour next season, on the back of 3 wins on the Challenge Tour, and that secures automatic

01:27promotion. Two Scots, Ewan Walker and Daniel Young, they shot matching 3 under par 69s.

01:38Walker was 5 under, with 4 holes to play, dropped a couple over the closing stretch

01:44and was slightly disappointed about that, while Young, he's finished strongly on his

01:51debut in this event. It means at the end of the first day, Walker, who started in 24th,

01:59is up 2 spots in the projected standings to 22nd, and that would mean it would be job

02:05done for him in his bid to step up to the DP World Tour after missing out here the last

02:12two years. Young, meanwhile, is up a spot to 26th, but he certainly still has a chance

02:20of making that step up come Sunday. We've got some bad weather on the way tomorrow,

02:26it looks as though we're going to have a 2T start and an early start to try and beat that

02:35rain and wind, I think, that's on the way. Today, the Challenge Tour observed a minute's

02:43silence out on the course for the lives that have been lost due to really bad flooding

02:51in Valencia, and as always, the European Tour group do these things in a caring manner and

03:00really do it right. To keep up to date with everything about the Rolex Challenge Tour

03:06Grand Final and also the second stage of the DP World Tour qualifying school,

03:11log on to Scotsman.com or buy the Scotsman.