Frenchman Gregory Havret took a one-shot lead after the first round of the European Masters on Thursday thanks to a seven-under par 63 which was helped by a spectacular hole-in-one.
Denmark’s Lasse Jensen is a shot back with 12 players on five under par 70 including England’s Tyrell Hatton who double-bogeyed the last hole.
Havret had a blistering round that included two eagles and his hole-in-one at the par-3 13th which won him a brand new car.
“It’s my second hole in one on the Tour, and there’s a funny story about my first,” said the three-time European Tour winner Havret whose achievement brought back fond memories of Spanish legend Seve Ballesteros.
“It was at the Seve Trophy in 2007, and Seve himself was on the tee. When the ball went in, he jumped into my arms and shouted ‘You’ve won a car!’
“It was such a great moment, but then later that night he told me he’d made a mistake, and the car was only the prize on the final day. So that was a bit disappointing, but this beautiful prize definitely makes up for it.”
Hatton is two shots off the lead at five under in a group including English trio Danny Willett, Seve Benson and Richard Bland.
Also in this group are Swedes Pelle Edberg and Rikard Karlberg, South Korea’s Y.E. Yang and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond on a day hit by a 90-minute delay due to fog.