Ricardo Gouveia shot the “round of his life” to take the opening lead at the KLM Open at The International. The Portuguese player started on the back nine with three consecutive birdies and added four more to make the turn in 28. He made one more birdie at the 3rd before a 90 minute storm-delay halted his momentum and he closed with a bogey at the 9th for a 7-under 64.
“It was one of those rounds, started off really well and just kept the momentum going. I haven’t holed this amount of putts in a long time,” said Gouveia.
“I hit it very close on the front nine. On the back nine I kept playing well but with the stop and the restart, it’s always tricky when you’re playing well.
“I’m really pleased with the round, I’d say it’s the best round of my life so far. I haven’t been this consistent in a while so it was nice to have a round like this. Extremely happy.”
Scotland’s Connor Syme lies in second place at 6-under having made eight birdies and two bogeys.
“I think we definitely got a little bit of a break with [the delay] – it was still tricky with the rain but I felt like there were a few shots where the greens had softened up a bit, a few pins we were able to get at that we might not have been able to this morning,” said Syme.
“It was nice to take advantage of that and hit some really quality shots.”
Fellow Scot Richie Ramsay made a hole-out eagle at the par-4 6th as well as five birdies and two bogeys for a 66 and a share of third place at 5-under alongside England’s Daniel Brown who eagled the par-5 8th and made four birdies and one bogey.
Also tied in third place are Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren, Germany’s Maximilian Kieffer, France’s Pierre Pineau and American John Catlin who stayed bogey-free.
