Day one digest: Austrian Golf Open

Everything you need to know from day one at Diamond Country Club.

Cañizares conquered the cold, Kaymer was king of the road, Detry made a perfect swing and all eyes were on the caddies on day one of the 2021 Austrian Golf Open.

Here is everything you need to know from Thursday in Atzenbrugg.

Alejandro keeps his cool

With very cold temperatures and high winds, you could forgive some players for getting frustrated as they attempted to carve out a score over the first 18 holes. Luckily for Alejandro Cañizares, 15 years on Tour means he has seen it all before and he took everything in his stride to record an eagle, four birdies and a single dropped shot to lead by one at five under. "I'm very pleased," he said. "It was tough to keep focus - it's so cold. It was tough to feel the hands and that's very important. I think the strength was just keeping my head on every shot because it's very easy when you miss a shot to let it go on days like this when you're struggling physically and mentally to keep warm. It was just do my process and do every shot and I was happy the way I managed bad shots because I didn't let them get to me like has happened in the past. That was the key."

Border hopping Kaymer makes the most of being close to home

Martin Kaymer drove to this event from Munich with the great Bavarian city being less than four hours away in the car. That gave the German plenty of chance to get in some practice and while he did not much enjoy playing in the snow on Monday, Diamond Country Club has certainly started to sparkle for the two time Major Champion. "I've never played the golf course, so it was very new for me when I came on Monday," he said. "I drove from Munich, it's a very convenient tournament for me to participate in. I've enjoyed the golf course - not so much on Monday when it was snowing - but Tuesday, Wednesday and today was enjoyable and so close to my country. I like to come to Austria." Kaymer was just one shot off the lead after 18 holes.

Detry gets down in one

We've had a bit of a glut of holes-in-one in recent weeks on the European Tour. From Sergio's walk-off ace to beat Lee Westwood in Austin, to Tommy Fleetwood's back to back holes-in-one in Texas and Augusta. We have actually had two aces at four events in a row coming into this week and Thomas Detry added to the run as he holed a seven iron from 158 yards on the sixth. Easy game, really.

Plenty of fight in Shinkwin

Callum Shinkwin has fighting in his blood, with his cousin Miles a retired light heavyweight who won national titles in England. Callum has done some boxing himself so it may not have been the wisest move by caddie Sam Robertshawe to have a spar to keep warm. It seemed to work, though, as Shinkwin finished the day at level par.

How good is your caddie?

Caddies play a vital role for golfers and most of them are fine players in their own right but we doubt there are many as good as this. On the bag for Todd Clements was Ladies European Tour professional Olivia Cowan, a three time winner on the LET Access Series and top ten finisher on the LET Order of Merit.