Euan Walker made the perfect start in his quest for a DP World Tour card after posting a seven under par opening round of 65 at the Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A.
The Scotsman carded five birdies and an eagle to move to seven under par at Club de Golf Alcanada and lead by one over Italian Stefano Mazzoli and Frenchman Félix Mory, who share second place.
The Rolex Grand Final is the 29th and final event on the HotelPlanner Tour’s 2025 Road to Mallorca schedule, with the 45-man field in Alcúdia battling it out for one of the 20 coveted DP World Tour cards on offer.
Walker made a confident start to the season finale with birdies at the first and third holes, before further gains at the fifth and eighth saw him make the turn at four under par.
He made an eagle three at the par five 13th hole and another birdie at the 15th to climb to the top of the leaderboard before a brilliant sandy par save on the 18th to keep his scorecard blemish free.
"It was quite fun actually," he said. "I was in position the whole time so I didn’t have much scrambling to do for par, so that makes your round so much more relaxing and so much more enjoyable. It was very satisfying (to go bogey free). After I played so well all day, it would’ve been incredibly disappointing to make bogey at the last even though it still would’ve been a great round.
"For 90 percent of my shots I hit the ball where I wanted it to go. It’s quite simple isn’t it, sounds like an easy thing. I was hitting it where I wanted to hit it which made it easier. I’ve just got to try my best to keep doing what I’m doing. Form in golf is very fleeting. It can come and go from one day to the next, and I think everybody knows that. Today it worked out in my favour. I’ll try and do that again."
The 30-year-old, currently 17th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, has narrowly missed out on promotion to the DP World Tour over the last three seasons after finishing 25th, 26th and 24th on the Rankings respectively. He is determined to get the job done this time around and would climb 11 places into sixth with victory this week.
Swede Per Längfors sits in fourth position on five under par alongside Austrian Maximilian Steinlechner, who is currently projected to finish top of the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
South African duo JC Ritchie and Jovan Rebula, Spaniard Sebastian Garcia, Scotland’s Daniel Young, Lars van Meijel from the Netherlands, Frenchman Julien Sale and Spain’s Victor Pastor share sixth position on four under par.
