Englishman Richard McEvoy immediately got back into the Latin American swing as the 2005 European Challenge Tour resumed at the Costa Rica Open. The Englishman, who won the Panasonic Panama Open on his last visit to the region in December, carded an opening round of four under par 67 to join Argentina’s Juan Abbate and Kyle Dobbs of the USA at the top of the leaderboard at a windswept Cariari Country Club, San Jose, Costa Rica.
That international trio lead another three players, current Challenge Tour Number One, Rafael Gomez of Argentina, Raphaël de Sousa of Switzerland and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet of France, who all posted opening 69s to lie two shots of the pace.
Only those six players plus another seven on one under par managed to go under the regulation level par 71 at the 6577 yard Cariari Country Club, where 144 are taking part in this, the fourth joint sanctioned event of 2005 with the Tour de las Americas.
Starting at the tenth tee, McEvoy went to the turn with a most unconventional level par 36, which comprised of an eagle, two birdies, three pars, two bogeys and a double bogey.
The 26 year old went on to eliminate all the bad elements of his opening nine holes to come home in four under par 31 – courtesy of birdies at the first, third, eighth and ninth – to join Abbate and Dobbs in the first round lead.
Following his early season victory in Panama, McEvoy, the 2003 European Tour Qualifying School Finals winner, is currently second on the Challenge Tour Rankings with earnings of €24,081, and he was pleased with the way he rectified the errors of his opening nine holes as he struck his way to a 67.
“I just generally played solid today, and putted very, which is nice,” said McEvoy. “I hit some nice putts and made some great saves that kept me going,” said the current Panama Open champion.
“I was striking the ball quite well, and when you are hitting the ball well it doesn’t really get affected this much by the wind. My short game was really good, and when I made mistakes I corrected them.”
After a deliberately cautious start to his round, Abbate, who finished 54th on the 2004 Challenge Tour Rankings, played his last five holes in four under par to get to the top of the leaderboard.
He said: “I knew the course was going to be tough, so I decided to play defensively” said the 29-year old. Last year was a bad season for me. For that reason I decided take a different approach this year, working harder to get fit physically and mentally. I believe things are working out well so far.”
Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he grew up playing on windswept golf courses, Dobbs also decided to play defensively. “Where I was just trying to leave the ball was in places where I could absolutely make par, in the worse case scenario. A lot of the putts never dropped, but other than that, I played pretty good”.
Gomez, the 2002 Costa Rica Open champion and winner of the 2005 Challenge Tour’s opening event, the 47th Abierto Mexicano de Golf, started the day with a bogey on his first hole, the 10th, but then was able to take control and get back under par to finish the day on two under.
“The wind was definitely a factor,” said Gomez, who also won the 2004 Tour de las Americas Order of Merit. “The good thing is the fairways are in very good shape, so if you hit them you will always find a good lie. I only missed a shot on my front nine and made a very bad bogey at the 16th. The rest of the round I kept the ball in and hit the center of the green. That helps a lot when you are looking for a good score.”
