Aaron Cockerill signed for a flawless 6-under 65 to take a share of the lead at the Soudal Open.
“I played very well today, stress free,” said the Canadian. “I don’t know if I had a par putt much longer than three feet: a lot of greens, a lot of fairways. I like this course. I’ve had decent results here last year, so I’m happy to be back.
“I put in a new driver yesterday and hit a tonne of fairways today and it’s closer than the results have been. So today was very satisfying. No bogeys. It was an enjoyable day.”
Tied in the lead alongside Cockerill are Spain’s Angel Ayora and the Netherlands’ Joost Luiten.
Luitten eagled the par-5 5th and made two bogeys as well as six birdies for his 65 while Ayora eagled the par-4 11th and made three bogeys.
“I hit some good iron shots and had some solid wedge play,” said Luiten. “On 18, the first, and then a great five on the second hole – picked up three birdies early on, which really gets the round going.
“That’s what you want, especially on a course like this. Every birdie gives you a bit of peace of mind out there. It was nice to go through the turn and keep making birdies.
“Let’s hope the form continues,” he added. “I’ve been playing well. I did well in Turkey — finished fifth there — so hopefully I can do even better here and carry that form into the next event, The Open in a couple of weeks. But every week is different, so right now I’m just focused on this one and we’ll see how it goes.
“It definitely helps that I can sleep at home this week. It feels like a home week for me. It’s just over the border — I used to live here in Belgium for three years, so I know this place pretty well. It’s nice to be close to home and playing courses that are familiar.”
England’s Marco Penge who finished T28 at the PGA Championship last Sunday made one bogey and closed with a 66 to take a share of fourth place at 5-under alongside American Sean Crocker and South African Thriston Lawrence who both also made a single bogey.
Related: Letter grades from the 107th PGA Championship
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | COCKERILL, Aaron | -6 | 65 |
| | AYORA, Angel | -6 | 65 |
| LUITEN, Joost | -6 | 65 | |
| 4 | LAWRENCE, Thriston | -5 | 66 |
| | CROCKER, Sean | -5 | 66 |
| | PENGE, Marco | -5 | 66 |
| 7 | KOBORI, Kazuma | -4 | 67 |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | -4 | 67 |
| | PINEAU, Pierre | -4 | 67 |
| | MERRITT, Troy | -4 | 67 |
| ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon | -4 | 67 | |
| | SENIOR, Jack | -4 | 67 |
| 13 | WIESBERGER, Bernd | -3 | 68 |
| | ZANOTTI, Fabrizio | -3 | 68 |
| | JORDAN, Matthew | -3 | 68 |
| | MIGLIOZZI, Guido | -3 | 68 |
| | VAILLANT, Tom | -3 | 68 |
| | GARCIA, Sebastian | -3 | 68 |
| | BROWN, Daniel | -3 | 68 |
| | PAVAN, Andrea | -3 | 68 |
| | LACROIX, Frederic | -3 | 68 |
| | PARRY, John | -3 | 68 |
| | WILSON, Andrew | -3 | 68 |
| | HIDALGO, Angel | -3 | 68 |
| | LAPORTA, Francesco | -3 | 68 |
| 26 | HEBERT, Benjamin | -2 | 69 |
| | VAN DOREN, Yente | -2 | 69 |
| | LAGERGREN, Joakim | -2 | 69 |
| | KNAPPE, Alexander | -2 | 69 |
| | LINDELL, Oliver | -2 | 69 |
| | COUSSAUD, Ugo | -2 | 69 |
| | FORSSTRÖM, Simon | -2 | 69 |
| | OLESEN, Jacob Skov | -2 | 69 |
| | HALVORSEN, Andreas | -2 | 69 |
| | HUIZING, Daan | -2 | 69 |
| | SCRIVENER, Jason | -2 | 69 |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | -2 | 69 |
| | VAN DRIEL, Darius | -2 | 69 |
| | SHINKWIN, Callum | -2 | 69 |
| | DONALDSON, Jamie | -2 | 69 |
| | BJERREGAARD, Lucas | -2 | 69 |
| | RAVETTO, David | -2 | 69 |
| | FORREST, Grant | -2 | 69 |
| | STERNE, Richard | -2 | 69 |
| 45 | WOOD, Chris | -1 | 70 |
| | WHITNELL, Dale | -1 | 70 |
| | NAKAJIMA, Keita | -1 | 70 |
| | MOSCATEL, Joel | -1 | 70 |
| | COLSAERTS, Nicolas | -1 | 70 |
| | SMITH, Jordan | -1 | 70 |
| PURCELL, Conor | -1 | 70 | |
| | DEL REY, Alejandro | -1 | 70 |
| | DE BRUYN, Jannik | -1 | 70 |
| | SCHOTT, Freddy | -1 | 70 |
| | PAUL, Yannik | -1 | 70 |
| | BESARD, Matthis | -1 | 70 |
| | CLEMENTS, Todd | -1 | 70 |
| | MICHELUZZI, David | -1 | 70 |
| | TOLLENAIRE, Jarno (AM) | -1 | 70 |
| | DE LEO, Gregorio | -1 | 70 |
| | KLEEN, Algot | -1 | 70 |
| | ELVIRA, Nacho | -1 | 70 |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | -1 | 70 |
| | MOLINARI, Edoardo | -1 | 70 |
| | SÖDERBERG, Sebastian | -1 | 70 |
| | AIKEN, Thomas | -1 | 70 |
| | FITZPATRICK, Alex | -1 | 70 |
| | ARMITAGE, Marcus | -1 | 70 |
| 69 | KINHULT, Marcus | Par | 71 |
| | SCHAPER, Jayden | Par | 71 |
| | SOUTHGATE, Matthew | Par | 71 |
| | LOMBARD, Zander | Par | 71 |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | Par | 71 |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | Par | 71 |
| | LEMKE, Niklas | Par | 71 |
| | REITAN, Kristoffer | Par | 71 |
| | KIEFFER, Maximilian | Par | 71 |
| | WU, Brandon | Par | 71 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | Par | 71 |
| | DEAN, Joe | Par | 71 |
| | SIEM, Marcel | Par | 71 |
| | FRANCES, Alexander | Par | 71 |
| | GARCIA-HEREDIA, Alfredo | Par | 71 |
| | MOLINARI, Francesco | Par | 71 |
| | BROWN, Hamish | Par | 71 |
| | LANGASQUE, Romain | Par | 71 |
| | SCHMIDT, Ben | Par | 71 |
| | FRITTELLI, Dylan | Par | 71 |
| | DE BONDT, Alan | Par | 71 |
| | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | Par | 71 |
| | JOHNSTON, Ryggs | Par | 71 |
| | BRUN, Julien | Par | 71 |
| 93 | PULKKANEN, Tapio | +1 | 72 |
| | ÅKESSON, Björn | +1 | 72 |
| | GERMISHUYS, Deon | +1 | 72 |
| | BUIJS, Lars | +1 | 72 |
| | MANSELL, Richard | +1 | 72 |
| | HILL, Calum | +1 | 72 |
| | STONE, Brandon | +1 | 72 |
| | NIENABER, Wilco | +1 | 72 |
| JARVIS, Casey | +1 | 72 | |
| | LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo | +1 | 72 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | +1 | 72 |
| | LI, Haotong | +1 | 72 |
| | PIETERS, Thomas | +1 | 72 |
| | LEVY, Alexander | +1 | 72 |
| | CHACARRA, Eugenio | +1 | 72 |
| | TARREN, Callum | +1 | 72 |
| | KIMSEY, Nathan | +1 | 72 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | +1 | 72 |
| | GUERRIER, Julien | +1 | 72 |
| | SYME, Connor | +1 | 72 |
| | GUMBERG, Jordan | +1 | 72 |
| | SORDET, Clément | +1 | 72 |
| 115 | BENTEIN, Liam (AM) | +2 | 73 |
| | SCHNEIDER, Marcel | +2 | 73 |
| | VON DELLINGSHAUSEN, Nicolai | +2 | 73 |
| | WILLIAMS, Robin | +2 | 73 |
| | HILLIER, Daniel | +2 | 73 |
| | MANASSERO, Matteo | +2 | 73 |
| | SADDIER, Adrien | +2 | 73 |
| | GALE, Daniel | +2 | 73 |
| | DING, Wenyi | +2 | 73 |
| | DANTORP, Jens | +2 | 73 |
| | KATSURAGAWA, Yuto | +2 | 73 |
| | SCHWAB, Matthias | +2 | 73 |
| | VEERMAN, Johannes | +2 | 73 |
| | JIN, Zihao | +2 | 73 |
| | COUVRA, Martin | +2 | 73 |
| | STRYDOM, Ockie | +2 | 73 |
| | ESTAS, Arthur (AM) | +2 | 73 |
| 132 | JAMIESON, Scott | +3 | 74 |
| | GRINBERG, Lev (AM) | +3 | 74 |
| | FISHER, Ross | +3 | 74 |
| | AHLAWAT, Veer | +3 | 74 |
| | ULENAERS, Kristof | +3 | 74 |
| | SHARMA, Shubhankar | +3 | 74 |
| | LINDBERG, Mikael | +3 | 74 |
| 139 | CAMPILLO, Jorge | +4 | 75 |
| | GREEN, Gavin | +4 | 75 |
| | BALDWIN, Matthew | +4 | 75 |
| | NAIDOO, Dylan | +4 | 75 |
| | VAN VELZEN, Ryan | +4 | 75 |
| | KRUYSWIJK, Jacques | +4 | 75 |
| | TETAK, Tadeas | +4 | 75 |
| 146 | BRADBURY, Dan | +5 | 76 |
| | BRYANT, Davis | +5 | 76 |
| | BESSELING, Wil | +5 | 76 |
| | MEYER DE BECO, James | +5 | 76 |
| | KO, Jeong weon | +5 | 76 |
| 151 | SHAUN, Corey | +7 | 78 |
| 152 | COSSEMENT, Nathan | +8 | 79 |
| 153 | TRAINER, Martin | +9 | 80 |
| 154 | DE JAGER, Louis | +11 | 82 |
| | MAQUET, Loris (AM) | +11 | 82 |
| 156 | GEEREBAERT, Julian (AM) | +15 | 86 |
Simon Bale
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