Former Challenge Tour Number One Alvaro Velasco carded a superb seven under par round of 65 to race into the lead midway through the opening day at the Norwegian Challenge.
The Spaniard opened with three pars after teeing off on the 10th before picking up his first shot at the par three 13th. He followed that up with two more birdies at the 14th and 15th and then eagled the par five 17th and three birdies on the way home allied with a bogey at the third put him two shots clear with the afternoon starters still out on the course.
“I really enjoyed it today,” said Velasco, who won the Challenge Tour Rankings in 2010. “The weather stayed good and my game was good so it was a nice day for me. I started really well and I didn’t finish great but I hung in there to get some pars.
“Three out of four of the par fives are reachable so there are good chances for birdies out there and there are a few short par fours but there are some tough holes too and the short holes can be tough if you don’t play the right shots so it’s a fair course.
“I've been playing well this year but my scores haven’t shown that but I'm seeing improvement so I need to keep doing that. I have to make sure to keep driving well here because it’s key and if I can do that the course will suit me nicely.”
There were four players two shots further back on five under par with plenty of experience lurking behind Velasco, including three time Challenge Tour winner Alessandro Tadini and the winner of the first tournament of the 2012, Max Kieffer, amongst them.
Steve O’Hara of Scotland and Italian Matteo Delpodio were also on five under after signing for rounds of 67.
Elias Bertheussen was the man who commanded all the local attention at Byneset GK as the man from nearby Trondheim carded a four under par 68 to lie three shots off the pace.
