Marcus Armitage started his round by holing out from 40 feet for a birdie at the 10th and fired ten more as well as two bogeys to close with a 9-under 63 and take a four-shot lead at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.
“[The putt for birdie at the 10th] went in with a lovely pace and it’s a tough hole to open up, especially with a 4.30am alarm,” said the Englishman.
“Jason Scrivener’s caddie said to me ‘You always hole a couple of 40-footers when we play with you’ and I holed a few more after that.”
“It’s been my best score in quite a few years so I’m really pleased with it,” continued Armitage.
“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.
“This wind round here can proper blow and I look forward to that challenge as well, so it’s nice to get a buffer going forward and we can deal with whatever comes our way tomorrow.”
England’s Jack Senior signed for a bogey-free 67 to take a share of second place at 5-under alongside Spain’s Ivan Cantero and Sweden’s Alexander Björk.
Play was suspended overnight due to darkness. Players yet to finish Round 1 will restart at 07.45.
Related: Which players can be most optimistic heading into 2025?
| Pos. | Player | Thru | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ARMITAGE, Marcus | F | -9 | 63 |
| 2 | CANTERO, Ivan | F | -5 | 67 |
| | BJÖRK, Alexander | F | -5 | 67 |
| | SENIOR, Jack | F | -5 | 67 |
| 5 | DE JAGER, Louis | F | -4 | 68 |
| | WIESBERGER, Bernd | F | -4 | 68 |
| | HARRINGTON, Padraig | F | -4 | 68 |
| | DEL REY, Alejandro | F | -4 | 68 |
| 9 | KIEFFER, Maximilian | F | -3 | 69 |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | F | -3 | 69 |
| DEAN, Joe | F | -3 | 69 | |
| | RAVETTO, David | F | -3 | 69 |
| | REED, Patrick | F | -3 | 69 |
| | MOSCATEL, Joel | F | -3 | 69 |
| | FORREST, Grant | F | -3 | 69 |
| | KINHULT, Marcus | F | -3 | 69 |
| | PUIG, David | F | -3 | 69 |
| 18 | OLESEN, Thorbjørn | F | -2 | 70 |
| | LANGASQUE, Romain | F | -2 | 70 |
| | SCHOTT, Freddy | F | -2 | 70 |
| | DUMONT DE CHASSART, Adrien | 17 | -2 | - |
| | NORRIS, Shaun | F | -2 | 70 |
| | BROWN, Daniel | F | -2 | 70 |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | F | -2 | 70 |
| 25 | GERMISHUYS, Deon | F | -1 | 71 |
| DING, Wenyi | F | -1 | 71 | |
| | MICHELUZZI, David | F | -1 | 71 |
| | DANTORP, Jens | F | -1 | 71 |
| | VON DELLINGSHAUSEN, Nicolai | F | -1 | 71 |
| | SÖDERBERG, Sebastian | F | -1 | 71 |
| | MANSELL, Richard | F | -1 | 71 |
| | FORSSTRÖM, Simon | F | -1 | 71 |
| | GUMBERG, Jordan | F | -1 | 71 |
| | SYME, Connor | F | -1 | 71 |
| | LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo | F | -1 | 71 |
| | BRADBURY, Dan | F | -1 | 71 |
| | STERNE, Richard | F | -1 | 71 |
| | FICHARDT, Darren | F | -1 | 71 |
| | AHLAWAT, Veer | 17 | -1 | - |
| | SADDIER, Adrien | F | -1 | 71 |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | F | -1 | 71 |
| | LACROIX, Frederic | F | -1 | 71 |
| | JARVIS, Casey | F | -1 | 71 |
| | FRITTELLI, Dylan | F | -1 | 71 |
| | SCHNEIDER, Marcel | F | -1 | 71 |
| 46 | PURCELL, Conor | F | Par | 72 |
| | SKAIK, Ahmad (AM) | F | Par | 72 |
| | JORDAN, Matthew | F | Par | 72 |
| | VAILLANT, Tom | F | Par | 72 |
| | REITAN, Kristoffer | F | Par | 72 |
| WILSON, Andrew | F | Par | 72 | |
| | HEBERT, Benjamin | F | Par | 72 |
| | LEVY, Alexander | F | Par | 72 |
| | SCRIVENER, Jason | F | Par | 72 |
| | LUITEN, Joost | F | Par | 72 |
| | VAN VELZEN, Ryan | 17 | Par | - |
| | GRENVILLE-WOOD, Joshua | F | Par | 72 |
| | APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | F | Par | 72 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | F | Par | 72 |
| | JAMIESON, Scott | F | Par | 72 |
| | BROWN, Hamish | F | Par | 72 |
| | VEERMAN, Johannes | F | Par | 72 |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | F | Par | 72 |
| | VAN DRIEL, Darius | F | Par | 72 |
| | FOX, Ryan | F | Par | 72 |
| | SMITH, Jordan | F | Par | 72 |
| | STONE, Brandon | F | Par | 72 |
| | BJERREGAARD, Lucas | F | Par | 72 |
| | LI, Haotong | F | Par | 72 |
| | GARCIA-HEREDIA, Alfredo | F | Par | 72 |
| 71 | COUSSAUD, Ugo | F | +1 | 73 |
| | MIGLIOZZI, Guido | F | +1 | 73 |
| | HILL, Calum | F | +1 | 73 |
| | WARING, Paul | F | +1 | 73 |
| | WHITNELL, Dale | F | +1 | 73 |
| | HIDALGO, Angel | F | +1 | 73 |
| | LORENZO-VERA, Mike | F | +1 | 73 |
| | COUVRA, Martin | F | +1 | 73 |
| | LINDELL, Oliver | F | +1 | 73 |
| | HALVORSEN, Andreas | F | +1 | 73 |
| | SHINKWIN, Callum | F | +1 | 73 |
| | TARREN, Callum | 17 | +1 | - |
| | AIKEN, Thomas | F | +1 | 73 |
| | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | F | +1 | 73 |
| | GUERRIER, Julien | F | +1 | 73 |
| | COETZEE, George | F | +1 | 73 |
| | COCKERILL, Aaron | F | +1 | 73 |
| | KATSURAGAWA, Yuto | F | +1 | 73 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | F | +1 | 73 |
| | WU, Brandon | F | +1 | 73 |
| | SCHAPER, Jayden | F | +1 | 73 |
| | DE BRUYN, Jannik | F | +1 | 73 |
| | NAIDOO, Dylan | F | +1 | 73 |
| 94 | JIN, Zihao | F | +2 | 74 |
| | LAGERGREN, Joakim | F | +2 | 74 |
| | CAMPILLO, Jorge | F | +2 | 74 |
| | KARLSSON, Robert | F | +2 | 74 |
| | GAVINS, Daniel | F | +2 | 74 |
| | KIM, MK | 17 | +2 | - |
| | FITZPATRICK, Alex | F | +2 | 74 |
| COLSAERTS, Nicolas | F | +2 | 74 | |
| | PAVAN, Andrea | F | +2 | 74 |
| | GREEN, Gavin | F | +2 | 74 |
| | ZANOTTI, Fabrizio | F | +2 | 74 |
| 105 | SELVARAJ, Jonathan (AM) | F | +3 | 75 |
| | KO, Jeong weon | F | +3 | 75 |
| | PULKKANEN, Tapio | 17 | +3 | - |
| | WILLIAMS, Robin | F | +3 | 75 |
| | AYORA, Angel | F | +3 | 75 |
| | SMYLIE, Elvis | F | +3 | 75 |
| | SHARMA, Shubhankar | F | +3 | 75 |
| | RAMSAY, Richie | F | +3 | 75 |
| 113 | FISHER, Ross | F | +4 | 76 |
| | MCKIBBIN, Tom | F | +4 | 76 |
| | SCHWAB, Matthias | 17 | +4 | - |
| | KOBORI, Kazuma | 17 | +4 | - |
| | LAPORTA, Francesco | F | +4 | 76 |
| | CROCKER, Sean | F | +4 | 76 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | F | +4 | 76 |
| | PIETERS, Thomas | F | +4 | 76 |
| 121 | ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon | F | +5 | 77 |
| | PINEAU, Pierre | F | +5 | 77 |
| | WINTHER, Jeff | F | +5 | 77 |
| | NAKAJIMA, Keita | F | +5 | 77 |
| | PARRY, John | F | +5 | 77 |
| | NEERGAARD-PETERSEN, Rasmus | F | +5 | 77 |
| | ELVIRA, Nacho | F | +5 | 77 |
| | LINDBERG, Mikael | F | +5 | 77 |
| 129 | MULLANE, Sam (AM) | F | +6 | 78 |
| | PAUL, Yannik | F | +6 | 78 |
| | WALKER, Jimmy | F | +6 | 78 |
| | HILLIER, Daniel | F | +6 | 78 |
| | SIEM, Marcel | F | +6 | 78 |
| | BALDWIN, Matthew | F | +6 | 78 |
| 135 | ÅKESSON, Björn | F | +7 | 79 |
| 136 | CLEMENTS, Todd | F | +8 | 80 |
| 137 | TRAINER, Martin | F | +10 | 82 |
| RETD | JOHNSTON, Ryggs | +6 | - |
