Pedro Figueiredo and Jan Schneider share a one-stroke lead after day one of the Hainan Open at Sanya Luhuitou Golf Club.
The duo both signed for seven under par opening rounds of 65 to move one shot ahead of American Shawn Lu, who had earlier set the first round pace in China.
Portuguese Figueiredo, starting on the tenth, was three under through his first five holes, before firing four birdies in a five-hole stretch from the 17th. Another birdie came on the seventh and despite dropping his only shot of the day on the eighth, he was delighted with how he’s started the first of back-to-back weeks in the Middle Kingdom.
“It’s a really good round,” he said. “Seven under out here is always good. The day wasn’t easy with the wind, but I like those conditions. It suits my game playing in the wind so I was happy overall.
“I was consistent. I hit most of the greens and fairways which meant bogeys weren’t in play today, which was great.”
The 34-year-old currently sits 44th on the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings and with the top 45 players currently projected to reach the Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A following next week’s Hangzhou Open, Figueiredo is looking to cement his current position.
“I’ve been in this situation a few times, so I am feeling more comfortable with it,” he added. “I’ve just got to stick to the process.
“I haven’t thought too much about the Rankings but I am just doing everything I can to shoot a good score each day and if that puts me in the top 45, great, and the top 20, even better.”
German Schneider, who is one of 48 China Tour players competing in Hainan this week, made six birdies, one eagle and one bogey during his opening 18.
The 27-year-old finished inside the top 20 at the Hainan Open last year and is looking forward to piecing together another positive weekend in Sanya.
“Today was a good day,” he said. It was a bit windy out there, but I really enjoyed it and I made a couple of longer putts which really helped.
“I struck the ball well and gave myself a lot of chances. I was kind of trouble free, but I did have some nice par saves on the back nine, so keeping that part of my round clean was nice.
“I will just go out there and do the same thing. My expectations are low but with a good start I want to keep playing well and we will go shot by shot and see what happens.”
Spaniard Rocco Repetto Taylor, South African Wilco Nienaber and Italian Stefano Mazzoli all share fourth place on five under, one-stroke clear of a four-way tie for seventh.
The second round of the Hainan Open gets under way at 7:05am local time with Schneider teeing off alongside England’s Alfie Plant and Taipei’s Yi-Tseng Huang at 7:10am. Figueiredo will begin day two at 8:35am alongside German Hurly Long and China’s Han Xue.
