Thursday 7 May 2015 21:35, UK
Thorbjorn Olesen made a sparkling return after an injury lay-off to share the lead at the end of the first round of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
The Dane was one of three players to card an opening 65 at the Heritage Golf Club, where he was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Spain's Carlos Pigem and Jeunghun Wang of South Korea.
Olesen had not played since the start of February, after an operation to correct a tendon problem in his left hand, but he showed few signs of rust as he opened with four birdies in his first five holes.
He dropped shots at the 17th (his eighth) and first but picked up a couple more birdies on his back nine to make it round in six-under.
Pigem matched Olesen's round with eight birdies and a couple of dropped shots, while Wang carded six birdies in a bogey-free opening effort.
Olesen said: “I’ve been waiting a long time for this – three months to play a competition round, so I was excited to get out there this morning. We had great conditions and I hit a lot of great putts, so it was fun.
“I’m really pleased to be back out here on the European Tour and play competition golf. I’ve been practising hard over the last two weeks but you don’t know what it will be like when you get out here.
"I didn’t have the biggest expectations. I knew I was swinging the club better than I have been, but you never know what will happen, so I couldn’t be happier with this start. It’s an awesome start.
“I’m so happy with my score. The wind was so strong and the rain was very hard. I’m happy that I played like this and my putter was pretty nice today. The putter worked really well. On one, I hit it so hard and it was almost in the hole.”
The leading trio have a one stroke advantage over South Africa's Oliver Bekker and Terry Pilkadaris of Australia on a day when tougher conditions affected plenty of the later starters.
Among the biggest strugglers were Olesen's compatriot Thomas Bjorn, who had five bogeys in a three-over 74, and Shenzhen International winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who only salvaged a six-over 77 with an eagle at the 18th.
Watch second round coverage of the AfrAsia Mauritius Open live on Sky Sports 4 from 7:30am on Friday.
