England’s Andy Sullivan benefited from a pre-event holiday and favourable conditions to share the lead after the opening round of the ISPS Handa Championship.
Sullivan, who was playing alongside Dundalk's Brendan Lawlor, carded eight birdies and a solitary bogey at Ishioka Golf Club for a seven-under-par 63 which was matched by South Korea’s Yeongsu Kim.
Sweden’s Alexander Bjork, Canada’s Aaron Cockerill and South Africa’s Deon Germishuys share third place on six under, with Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard two shots further back on an impressive return from a 10-week injury lay-off.
“I’m really pleased,” four-time DP World Tour winner Sullivan said.
“As my playing partner Romain Langasque told me, ‘Every flag out there is a right flag and you fade the ball so it’s perfect for you today’. It was good fun playing with Brendan (Lawlor) and Romain, very relaxed vibe.
“Me and my coach have been working on going back to when I was playing my best, around 2015, 2016, so we’ve looked at swings from there and almost tried to mimic that.
“It’s getting close, I feel confident with the irons. Driver is still taking a bit of work. On the whole the game is feeling good. It feels a lot more under control again, less of the erratic shots.
“It was also good to holiday in Thailand before this event. Went away, tried to get on the time zone, it was a nice relaxing time. Might need to do it more often if I’m playing like this.”
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre lies three shots off the lead after a successful start to his new approach to getting bad shots out of his system as soon as possible.
“I played great,” MacIntyre said. “I just hit two poor eight irons for the dropped shots but I picked up shots in between those. But happy after five weeks out to get to four under.
“It’s the first week back out, I’m very calm, I’m enjoying it out there. It’s easier when you can accept the bogeys and the bad shots.
“Mike (his caddie) is probably the least stressed he has been all year. I think it’s a bit of luck and a bit of mindset. It was a conscious effort. If I hit a bad shot, don’t let it affect the next one. It was a good result.”
Lawlor shot 81 for his opening round, leaving him at 11 over par.
