Jonathan Caldwell took a bounce from his share of fourth place in Scotland into the opening round of the Indoor Golf Group Challenge in Sweden.
Caldwell carded a four-under-par round of 67 to lie just two shots off co-leaders Julien Sale and Adam Andersson at Landeryds Golfklubb.
The Clandeboye man who is sitting comfortably in 51st place on the Road to Mallorca Rankings could make a late summer push for the top-45 and the Grand Final with a burst of form and five birdies and just one dropped shot was a welcome continuation of the form he showed last week.
Dermot McElroy sits on the bubble number in 70th place but is just four shots off the pace here on two-under after a round of 69 that included three birdies and a bogey.
Meanwhile, Mark Power is one-under-par after a 70 as Conor Purcell’s slow run since winning in Galgorm Castle continued with a level-par 71 to lie alongside Conor O’Rourke.
Ronan Mullarney and Alex Maguire have work to do to make the cut from five-over and seven-over respectively.
Starting at the tenth, Frenchman Sale opened with a pair of birdies and added two more at the seventeenth and eighteenth alongside a solitary bogey at thirteen to make the turn at three under. Further gains followed at the first, second and eighth holes to take him to six under par for his opening round.
The 26-year-old was delighted with his low-scoring day and particularly pleased to pick up early momentum after a fast start.
“I’m really happy with my performance today,” he said. “It’s always nice to shoot under par, and six under is a really nice score.
“It was really nice to start birdie-birdie. It gives you confidence and lately I’ve needed it because I’ve been playing pretty well but the scores haven’t really been there, so going under par rather quickly was really nice to get momentum and keep it going for the rest of the round.”
Sweden’s Andersson, who is making just his second Challenge Tour start this week, joined Sale at the top of the leaderboard after matching his score in wet and windy afternoon conditions which he feels are well-suited to his game.
“Today was very good,” he said. “I was quite focused, struck the ball well and made a few longer putts. I knew I needed to play well, but I didn’t have many expectations and just tried to focus on the next shot.
“I like this weather; I had two wins last year on the Nordic Golf League and both were in similar weather conditions, so I’m hoping for more of the same.”
