Turkish Airlines Open - day one digest

Everything you need to know from round one at Regnum Carya.

Tiger Christensen thrived on good pressure, Martin Couvra and Robin Williams joined him in a share of the lead and Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald rolled back the years.

Here is everything you need to know from the opening round in Türkiye.

Tiger enjoying the pressure

Tiger Christensen utilised the “good pressure” of being handed a DP World Tour start to grab a share of the first-round lead. The 21-year-old from Germany predominantly plies his trade on the HotelPlanner Tour but received an invite to tee it up at Regnum Carya and took advantage with a six-under-par 65 to share the lead with France's Couvra and South Africa's Williams. Christensen was one over for his first six holes and level par at the turn, before holing from the fringe at the tenth sparked a run of six consecutive birdies. “I think we had a good game plan, stayed patient all day,” Christensen said. “I made a good one from the fringe on ten and it kind of got going and then hit it really close on 11. From there, hit a really good tee shot on the par five, and you got a couple birdie holes up there and then took advantage of the last par five as well to make it six (under). I feel good pressure. I definitely enjoy these tournaments a lot."

Couvra and Williams full of confidence

Couvra graduated from last season's HotelPlanner Tour and has impressed with four top-ten finishes already in his rookie campaign, including fifth place at the Hainan Classic last time out. A birdie at the par-five 15th was his only deviation from par over the first eight holes before a spectacular hole-out from a bunker at the 18th kicked off a hat-trick of gains. After birdies from 14 feet at the first and seven feet at the second, Couvra produced a superb approach to the fifth for a tap-in gain before his only blemish of the day following a three-putt at the next was cancelled out by closing birdies at the eighth and ninth. “Pretty happy about this first round,” he said. “I played well all day. Just kept smiling on the course, and that’s it.“My game is pretty good and my confidence too. I just try to keep a good mindset on the golf course.” Williams produced six birdies in a flawless round to make a late charge up the leaderboard. "I played really, really solid," he added. "As I said, bogey-free, I didn't have any faults out there, I didn't put myself out of position or anything, which is very easy to do it on this course. But on the back nine, it was so peaceful out there. There really wasn't any wind. It was like we were playing a practice out there, me and my dad just enjoying ourselves."

Remarkable recovery

Richard Mansell looked to be in trouble at the tenth until he produced this moment of magic.

Still got it

Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald was World Number One for a reason – what a shot this is.

Teenage kicks

Kai Notteboom initially tried golf because he thought it looked a “fun sport”. Now he's making his DP World Tour debut as a 15-year-old, and kicked off with a 77.