Marcus Armitage posted his lowest round for over two years as he raced into a four-stroke lead after the opening round of the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.
The Englishman, playing in the first group of the day from the tenth, made the most of calm morning conditions as he mixed 11 birdies with two bogeys to card a nine under par 63, four better than countryman Jack Senior, Sweden’s Alexander Bjork and Spaniard Ivan Cantero, who share second on five under at Al Hamra Golf Club.
The 2021 Porsche European Open winner began his round from the tenth tee and got off to a dream start, holing from 40 feet for an opening birdie at a tricky hole.
After giving the shot back at the 12th, Armitage took advantage of the par five 14th to get back under par before closing his front nine with a hat-trick of birdies courtesy of a hot putter.
His birdie run continued after the turn as he made further gains on the first and second to make it five on the bounce.
The streak was broken by a bogey on the par five third but Armitage bounced back with a birdie from 16 feet on the short fourth.
He continued to shine on the greens, pouring in another birdie from 18 feet at the sixth before closing his round with back-to-back birdies to get to nine under, which proved a target too tall for the rest of the field.
Marcus Armitage: It’s been my best score in quite a few years so I’m really pleased with it. It just shows that a bit of time off, rest the mind and come back fresh and apply yourself and I’ve still got the game.
The putter was on fire. I don’t even know how many putts I had but everything I looked at I was thinking about holing. I was just in the zone if that’s what you want to call it, one of them days.
Fellow Englishman Senior was the best of the afternoon starters, birdieing the ninth – his last hole – to cap off a fine bogey-free round of 67 in his first competitive round of 2025.
Jack Senior: It’s a really solid start. Just played really solid golf, gave myself a lot of chances and just reaped the rewards of hitting some good shots out there.
I scrambled really well. Obviously the front nine is playing pretty tough with the wind being in and out the left, which is a wind that obviously I struggle with a little bit hitting a fade. I scrapped it around a couple of holes, but that’s what you’ve got to do on a windy day.
Irishman Pádraig Harrington, who has worked with Al Hamra Golf Club to make changes to the Ras Al Khaimah Championship layout, is part of a four-strong pack on four under par alongside Spaniard Alejandro del Rey, South Africa’s Louis de Jager and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.
