Afternoon delight for Sharvin as he fires 10-birdie 63 to lead English Championship
Cormac Sharvin. Picture: Getty Images
Ardglass’ Cormac Sharvin blasted ten birdies in a European Tour career-low 63 to snatch the first-round lead the English Championship at Hanbury Manor in Hertfordshire.
Playing in the final group of the day, the former Walker Cup star (27) opened with three birdies, bogeyed the fifth but then birdied the seventh and ninth to turn in four-under-par.
He was equally hot on the back nine, and after following birdies at the 11th and 12th with a bogey at the 13th, he birdied the 14th, 15th and 16th to get to eight-under before finishing with two pars.
He leads by a shot from Australians Jason Scrivener and Min Woo Lee, Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, Belgian Thomas Detry, and English duo Laurie Canter and David Howell, who posted seven-under 64’s.
Greystones’ Paul Dunne birdied the last to share 92nd place after a one-under 70 but Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell dropped two shots in his last five holes to sign for a one-over 72 that left him four shots outside the top 65 and ties who will make the cut.
Sharvin, who earned his card through the Challenge Tour rankings last year, finished a career-best tied 15th in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Lahinch.
"It was a nice round, played really well,” Sharvin said. “I didn't do too much wrong. Put it on the fairway, hit a lot of good shots and holed a few putts as well and it all added up to 63. “
Sharvin faded to 47th after a good start to the Hero Open last week but after good work on his putting with his former college coach, Dean Robertson, he’s back on track.
"I feel like last week I didn't play too badly, I just struggled on the greens,” he said. "I did a lot of work with Dean my old college coach who has been caddying for me on the UK Swing. I did a lot of work on my putting process and it seemed to work today.
"Hopefully it keeps going in that direction and see where it takes us.”
Laurie Canter: “I got off to a great start. I said to my caddie on the putting green I didn’t feel like I was getting to grips with the greens. Then on the first hole I holed a 60-footer right across it. Funny how that happened. Played really nicely. I’d have that swing back on 17, but I’m happy with today.
“I have tried to do things a bit differently because we have the opportunity to. I’ve always played with keeping the card hanging over my head. Someone I work with asked “how are you going to approach the game differently?” It’s not rocket science. I’ve tried to do a couple of things, it’s early to say it’s working, I’ve only played nine rounds. It's been more enjoyable – which is one thing I’ve taken out of it and I’m having fun out there. We’ll see how long that continues.”
Thomas Detry: “It was really good. I built up a bit of momentum from last week I think and I got off to a really good start, with an eagle chance at the second, a birdie putt at the third and I was just rolling – had four more birdies on the last four holes of the front nine. Then I kept it going. I made two little mistakes on 11 and 17 but I’m very pleased with the way I’m playing golf right now.
“You’ve just got to forget about it and this week is just another chance to put my name up there and have a chance on Sunday. That’s what I think I’ve done today and hopefully I can keep going the next few days. Last week was not easy, I played some really good golf but Sam Horsfield hit an amazing shot on 17 to birdie that hole and beat me by one, so we just move on.”
David Howell: “It's been a long time since I've put a good first round on the board to be honest. It's what I've been crying out for. I've played some reasonable golf in spurts since we've come back but haven't got off to a great start. Today it happened so it was lovely. Nice to see my name somewhere near the top of the leaderboard, if not the top.
“There was a lovely family, the only gallery we would have, in their property behind the green (on the 15th). Might be the only golf fans we play in front of for the entire UK Swing. They happened to be sat there on their own lawn when the ball went in. They were the give away that it was indeed an eagle.”
Min Woo Lee: “I just striped it awesome today. I hit it really good with my irons and my driver and rolled a few in. I think my longest putt was 25 feet, so I was pretty happy with that. It's scoreable but you've also got to hit your shots. I hit it really awesome and close to the hole so it gave me a lot of opportunities.
“The results weren't there for me (the last two weeks) I missed the cut. I felt pretty down after those two and then you come out here and play really good. That's golf. I worked hard in my break and on the weekends when I missed the cut so it's nice to come out here and shoot a good score."
English Championship, Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club, Hertfordshire, England (Par 71)
63 Cormac Sharvin (Nir)
64 T Detry (Bel), L Canter (Eng), D Howell (Eng), J Scrivener (Aus), M Lee (Aus), S Vincent (Zim)
65 D Drysdale (Sco), R Bland (Eng), R Langasque (Fra), N Colsaerts (Bel), B Stone (RSA), C Syme (Sco), M Simonsen (Den), J Senior (Eng), A Otaegui (Esp), R Hojgaard (Den), O Lengden (Swe), R Wattel (Fra)
66 R Enoch (Wal), R Ramsay (Sco), M Jimenez (Esp), A Johnston (Eng), A Sullivan (Eng), D Burmester (RSA), A Meronk (Pol), B Easton (RSA), S Brown (Eng), L Westwood (Eng), T Olesen (Den), M Schmitt (Ger), M Antcliff (Aus), N Lemke (Swe)
67 A Cockerill (Can), N Hojgaard (Den), A Rozner (Fra), M Southgate (Eng), O Fisher (Eng), J Donaldson (Wal), R Roussel (Fra), M Jordan (Eng), T Tree (Eng), J Veerman (USA), R Fox (Nzl), J Harding (RSA), B Evans (Eng), S Kim (USA), K Samooja (Fin), M Schneider (Ger), E Ferguson (Sco)
68 J Smith (Eng), M Warren (Sco), C Paisley (Eng), R Santos (Por), M Armitage (Eng), L Gagli (Ita), D Horsey (Eng), C Shinkwin (Eng), E De La Riva (Esp), A Saddier (Fra), W Nienaber (RSA), M Baldwin (Eng), A Rai (Eng), A Pavan (Ita), D Law (Sco), J Singh Brar (Eng), A Chesters (Eng), N Elvira (Esp), J Suri (USA)
69 S Crocker (USA), D Coupland (Eng), L Slattery (Eng), D Perrier (Fra), B Ritthammer (Ger), F Laporta (Ita), B Poke (Den), S Kjeldsen (Den), L De Jager (RSA), R McGowan (Eng), L Johnston (Sco), L Van Meijel (Ned), R Karlberg (Swe), G Migliozzi (Ita), G Green (Mas), P Larrazábal (Esp), R Paratore (Ita), J Hansen (Den), C Pigem (Esp), J McLeod (Aus), D Huizing (Ned), A Cañizares (Esp)
70 Paul Dunne (Irl), T Bjorn (Den), R Mcevoy (Eng), J Morrison (Eng), M Campbell (Nzl), K Reitan (Nor), T Pulkkanen (Fin), T Gandy (Imn), B Stow (Eng), D Young (Sco), J Guerrier (Fra), J Stalter (Fra), W Besseling (Ned), J Walters (RSA), G Fernandez-Castaño (Esp), M Kieffer (Ger)
71 E Cuartero Blanco (Esp), D Whitnell (Eng), O Wilson (Eng), G Porteous (Eng), S Hend (Aus), S Sharma (Ind), G Storm (Eng), R Fisher (Eng), M Pavon (Fra)
72 O Farr (Wal), Jonathan Caldwell (Nir), A Quiros (Esp), M Kawamura (Jpn), J Kruyswijk (RSA), J Sjoholm (Swe)
73 S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp), Z Lombard (RSA), S Tiley (Eng), S Horsfield (Eng), H Porteous (RSA)
74 S Jamieson (Sco), J Ritchie (RSA)
75 P Figueiredo (Por)
77 N Von Dellingshausen (Ger)
80 J Ruebotham (Eng)
