I shot a four under par 68 in the first round of this week’s DP World Tour event at the €1.75 million Dutch Open in the Netherlands on Thursday.
I am lying in tied eighth place, three shots behind the first-round sole leader and home favourite Joost Luiten.
Starting on Tee 10, I was out in 34 with birdies on holes 12 and 18 and then made back-to-back birdies on holes 4 and 5. My only dropped shot of the day was on hole 6 (my 15th hole of the day), the 225 yards par 3, the fifth hardest hole on the golf course, but I proudly bounced back with my fifth birdie of the day on hole 7. The rest of the holes were all pars and those were my figures for the round.
Tough conditions
I played very solidly today and executed my game plan nicely. The conditions were not that easy. I have hit a few balls on the range post round to wind down, and will hit some practice putts before leaving the golf course.
I will continue my typical tournament day routine and go to the physio for some stretching exercises and then a gym session, perhaps a nap and then dinner. It is always a full long day for us pros.
I played with Jordan Smith (Eng), who matched my score of 68 and we kept each other company nicely. He was out in a four birdie 32 and had one bogey on his last hole, the 9th.
Decent group
If someone is playing well in the group it often rubs off on the others in the group, which was the case for us today.
Former Ryder Cup captain and winner of 15 DP World Tour events including the 2001 Dubai Desert Classic, 51 year old, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) was the third player in our group, shot a one under par 71.
We had a decent group with all three players under par and 71 players broke par today.
Friday’s second round tee time for our group is at 1.10pm off Tee 1. The weather forecast indicates a stronger breeze than Thursday and a little cooler.
Speak to you all after my second round.
— Dubai resident Adrian Meronk is a professional golfer from Poland on the DP World Tour who uses Dubai as his winter home. He is sponsored by Dubai based White Eagle, who organise golf events.
