Welcome to The Belfry, where the British Masters is delivering more plot twists than a detective novel.
Two men, Paul Waring and Jeong weon Ko, have emerged at the top after day one, each putting on a clinic in clutch shot-making to snag a one-shot lead. And trust me, this was anything but a stroll in the park.
Let’s start with Paul Waring, the Englishman who, for the first half of his round, seemed content to fly under the radar.
He was hanging around with a birdie here, a bogey thereโnothing too wild. But then, something clicked. It was like a switch flipped on the par-four eighth when he found the tight fairway, wedged it close, and drained a birdie putt to get things rolling.
From there, it was as if heโd been injected with a shot of espresso, rattling off four birdies in a row on the back nine to post a slick 67. Suddenly, heโs tied at the top and looking every bit the contender.
Paul Waring: “Front nine was a bit hit and miss in all honesty. Didnโt get off to a great start, bogeying the par five.
“If you get it in play, you can score up to a point. If you miss the fairways, the rough is super thick. If you get on the back foot, itโs easy to get stuck on the back foot.
“This event is always a great turnout. I do love playing in front of the home fans, theyโre very knowledgeable.
I love playing all over the world, itโs just nice to come home and see my mum and dad, my wife, theyโre all here.
Iโve had Alex, one of my best friends on the bag for years, and weโre going to have a few people come and watch over the weekend as well.”
Not to be outdone, Frenchman Jeong weon Ko was working his own magic on the back nine.
After a steady opening nine, Ko got busy, lighting up the course with birdies on 12 and 13 before really hitting his stride with three more from the 15th.
If youโre counting, thatโs five birdies on the back nine alone. Itโs the second time this season heโs led after the opening round, and you get the feeling he likes the view from up there.
Jeong weon Ko:ย “I think it was solid overall. I played the driver well. My irons were good.
Putting was really good. Yeah, there was no part of the game that was bad really. So quite happy with the round.”
Hot on their heels are South Africaโs Thriston Lawrence and Spainโs Jorge Campillo, just a stroke behind.
Lawrence comes in fresh off a win on the Sunshine Tour, and Campillo is no stranger to the heat of competition.
Thriston Lawrence: “The last three years has been good. So I wouldn’t really say the last couple of weeks, it’s been good the last three years.
“Obviously a win does help, and you obviously ooze with confidence but every tournament is a new tournament and you’re only as good as the last one.
So you know, back to the drawing board today and I had a good plan and managed to execute it.”
But theyโre not alone. Thereโs a whole pack of players sniffing around in fifth place, including English fan favourites like Laurie Canter, Tyrrell Hatton, Jordan Smith, and Andrew Wilson.
And let’s give a nod to Todd Clements, who celebrated his 28th birthday in style with the first hole-in-one of the week at the par-three seventh.
His ace wasnโt just for show; it helped raise funds for Guide Dogs, part of a day that saw 12 eagles and ยฃ14,000 in donations for charity. Not bad for a dayโs work, eh?
With day one in the books, the British Masters is wide open. Can Waring and Ko keep their nerve? Will the chasing pack find their stride?
The Belfry has seen its share of drama over the years, and something tells me weโre just getting started.
Scores after round one:
67 P WARING (ENG), J KO (FRA),
68 T LAWRENCE (RSA), J CAMPILLO (ESP),
69 T HATTON (ENG), A WILSON (ENG), T VAILLANT (FRA), S FORSSTR?M (SWE), Y KATSURAGAWA (JPN), S GALLACHER (SCO), A PAVAN (ITA), D MICHELUZZI (AUS), H LONG (GER), L CANTER (ENG), J SMITH (ENG), K JOHANNESSEN (NOR),
70 D GALE (AUS), A SULLIVAN (ENG), C JARVIS (RSA), A ROZNER (FRA), M SCHWAB (AUT), F LAPORTA (ITA), H NORLANDER (SWE), N NORGAARD (DEN), J SCRIVENER (AUS), J SVENSSON (SWE), J WINTHER (DEN), R ROCK (ENG), S FRIEDRICHSEN (DEN),
71 C SORDET (FRA), H HALL (ENG), S BROHOLT LIND (DEN), D HILLIER (NZL), J BLIXT (SWE), O CHOUHAN (IND), G GREEN (MAS), E PEPPERELL (ENG), T CLEMENTS (ENG), K APHIBARNRAT (THA), J VEERMAN (USA), J DANTORP (SWE), S SHARMA (IND), B STONE (RSA), A HIDALGO (ESP), J DAVIDSON (WAL),
72 T AIKEN (RSA), J DEAN (ENG), F SCHOTT (GER), V NORRMAN (SWE), A JOHNSTON (ENG), C SHINKWIN (ENG), M KINHULT (SWE), S KANG (KOR), M BESARD (BEL), C BLOMSTRAND (SWE), M BALDWIN (ENG), C HILL (SCO), L BJERREGAARD (DEN), K NAKAJIMA (JPN), C SYME (SCO), R MANSELL (ENG), M ARMITAGE (ENG), T OLESEN (DEN), R RAMSAY (SCO), J LUITEN (NED), D FRITTELLI (RSA), S GARCIA (ESP), S THORNTON (IRL), S JONES (NZL),
73 S BAIRSTOW (ENG), D LAW (SCO), D BRADBURY (ENG), J WALTERS (RSA), M JORDAN (ENG), R H?JGAARD (DEN), G MIGLIOZZI (ITA), R GOUVEIA (POR), J GUERRIER (FRA), S JAMIESON (SCO), G COETZEE (RSA), E KOFSTAD (NOR), S KJELDSEN (DEN), G PORTEOUS (ENG), R HOSHINO (JPN), M MANASSERO (ITA), O WILSON (ENG), S V?LIM?KI (FIN), R CABRERA BELLO (ESP), F LACROIX (FRA), M KORHONEN (FIN), M ROTTLUFF (GER), N BACHEM (GER), D BROWN (ENG), D MOSTERT (RSA), H BARRON (AUS), P MOOLMAN (RSA), A WU (CHN),
74 G FORREST (SCO), T MCKIBBIN (NIR), E FERGUSON (SCO), M SIEM (GER), F CELLI (ITA), G FDEZ-CASTA?O (ESP), J PRINSLOO (RSA), B RUSCH (SUI), J G?TH-RASMUSSEN (DEN), M KIEFFER (GER), M DAFFUE (RSA), C HANNA (USA), A OTAEGUI (ESP), L SCALISE (ITA), R FISHER (ENG), L DE JAGER (RSA), A FITZPATRICK (ENG), D HUIZING (NED),
75 P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP), A ARNAUS (ESP), M PENGE (ENG), L RUUSKA (FIN), A DEL REY (ESP), H LI (CHN), J MORRISON (ENG), M EGE (NOR), J GIRRBACH (SUI),
76 G WIEBE (USA), A GARCIA-HEREDIA (ESP), P O’HARA (SCO), D WILLETT (ENG), J NICHOLAS (USA), S MANLEY (WAL), T LEWIS (ENG), F ZANOTTI (PAR), M WALLACE (ENG), O STRYDOM (RSA), E MOLINARI (ITA), D FICHARDT (RSA), J GUMBERG (USA), P FIGUEIREDO (POR), N GALLETTI (USA),
77 M ELVIRA (ESP), J HARDING (RSA), J DE BRUYN (GER), W ENEFER (ENG), I CANTERO (ESP), M SOUTHGATE (ENG),
78 K KIM (AM) (ENG), L DONALD (ENG), Y PAUL (GER),
79 A KNAPPE (GER), O BEKKER (RSA), J SCHAPER (RSA), D WHITNELL (ENG),
80 G CHEN (CHN), S TARRIO (ESP),
81 J BERRY (ENG),
82 R PARATORE (ITA),
