Norway’s giant Epsen Kofstad shot a seven under par 64 and take a two stroke on day one of the Wales Open at Celtic Manor in Wales.
Kofsad, 25 was out in the very first group of the day and ended his round in brilliant manner with three birdies and then holing a bunker shot for eagle at the last.
It put the Oslo-born Kofstad, and ranked 305th in the world, one ahead of the England’s Chris Wood and Australia’s Richard Green who shot five under par 66s on the Twenty Ten 2010 Ryder Cup host venue.
Epsen Kofsad (left) stood tall on the first tee before standing even taller in shooting a first round 64. (Photo – David Lloyd/www.golffile.ie)
However the six foot two inch tall Norwegian has endured a wretched maiden European Tour after finishing the leading graduate on last year’s secondary Challenge Tour having missed nine halfway cuts in succession from last April to three weeks ago due to a neck injury.
“I have been very, very calm the last two weeks,” said Kofstad.
“I started to settle down a bit as I was a bit stressed and tentative, and wasn’t able to practice as much as I wanted to because of my neck injury.
“Today I wasn’t nervous and it felt easy.”
Italy’s Francesco Molinari and the highest world ranked player in the field shot at Number 43 shot a two over par 73 that included an eagle, five birdies, four bogeys and two double bogeys.
European Ryder Cup captain, Paul McGinley got the 2014 European Team qualifying under way hitting the first tee shot of the tournament.
However the Irishman found himself outclassed by Kofstad who played alongside McGinley.
“What a way to finish birdie, birdie, birdie and then eagle is just fantastic,” said McGinley.
“Epsen hit it a million miles, hit a lot of fairway, played very well and deserved that score.”
And defending champion, Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand kept alive his goal of breaking into the International Presidents Cup Team with a level par 71.
