August 20-23
The Celtic Manor Resort, City of Newport, Wales
€1,000,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Scotland's Connor Syme played himself into contention to make up for last week's near miss at Celtic Manor with an opening 66 at the same venue in the ISPS Handa Wales Open.

Syme carded seven birdies and two bogeys to claim a share of the lead with England's Jordan Smith on five under par, with Robert MacIntyre, Sebastian Soderberg, Callum Shinkwin and Kurt Kitayama sharing third place on three under.

Syme held a one-shot lead after 54 holes of the Celtic Classic but had to settle for a share of third place following a final round of 71 which was compiled either side of a two-hour lightning delay.

"We were thinking a little bit about how they might change the golf course but the wind has certainly done that for us - a completely different direction and a lot stronger," the 25-year-old said.

"It was a good round, I had to plan my way around differently but I did that and holed a few nice putts which was a bonus.

"I took a lot of confidence from last week. It was a new experience for me having a 54-hole lead and I really enjoyed it. I'm trying to get back into those positions as much as I can.

"It's a long way to go and I think tomorrow is going to be a tough day (with bad weather) so it's just like jockeying for position a little bit the first two days, but I'm up the top end of the leaderboard, which is good, and can hopefully kick on a little bit tomorrow."

Asked how valuable his experience of last week could prove, Syme added: "Massively. You never really know how you're going to handle it all until you're in those situations, sleeping a little bit different on a lead was obviously new.

"Having won on the Challenge Tour has definitely helped me. I'm drawing on all the experiences, trying to build the bank up as much as I can and I guess today was another one of those."

Smith finished 22nd last week and feels his game is getting back on track after making swing changes during the enforced shutdown of the European Tour due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"I did a lot of work in lockdown and the missed cut at Forest of Arden was probably a blessing in disguise," the 27-year-old said.

"We'd probably gone a bit too far with what we were working on with the swing and just getting it back more neutral. That's definitely helped the last few weeks, I've been able to control the ball a lot better."

Sam Horsfield's bid for back-to-back wins at Celtic Manor and a third victory in the space of four weeks got off to a flying start with three birdies in the first five holes, but the 23-year-old eventually signed for a two-over-par 73.