American amateur David Ford claimed a share of the first-round lead at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic after a stunning 65 on his second DP World Tour start.
Ford’s seven-under total at Emirates Golf Club was matched by Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia and Australian David Micheluzzi.
Ford, who plays University golf in the United States and was part of their winning Walker Cup side in 2023, eagled the 10th his first hole of the day, and mixed six birdies with a single bogey.
“It was great,” he said. “I got a couple of putts to fall that I didn’t know were going to go in, hit a lot of good iron shots. I love where the pins were set up today. I felt like a lot of them fit my eye.
“Overall, solid. Definitely missed a few shots and want a few swings back but overall, felt good about it.”
Currently sixth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Ford insisted hie came into the week with minimal expectations.
“I try to keep my expectations low,” he added. “I know where my game is at right now and I have got a lot of people around me believing in me which is really helpful going into this week.
“I just tried to have fun. Just come out here and do the preparation that I do for college events and just keep everything really simple and keep having fun.”
Micheluzzi had seven birdies in a flawless opening round – a remarkable achievement given the 28-year-old had never played the Majlis Course before.
“Everyone is saying how tough it was and today I played great. There’s nothing more to it,” he said. “It was nice for the first, I’d say 11, 12 holes and then the wind got up a little bit. Just kept hitting good shots, and stumped a few shots where I probably wasn’t aiming. Got lucky with those, and then holed some nice putts coming in.”
Gouveia is still looking for his maiden DP World Tour win in his 190th event but arrived in Dubai full of confidence after finishing third at the Genesis Championship on his last start of 2024 to keep his card, having begun the week knowing he needed to finish in the top five.
“One of those days everything went really well,” he said. “I hit some good tee shots, some good second shots. Holed some good putts, as well, and that’s key out here. You’ve got to be on the fairway to be able to attack these pins, and that’s what I did today.
“I knew someone could shoot a low one, but yeah, I knew it was going to be really tough to do it. Like you said, the rough is really thick, really tall. It’s hard to get close to these pins if you’re not on the fairway, but if you get on a hot streak, I guess you can go low.
“Just knowing that I can perform under the gun, under that amount of pressure, it’s really important, and just gave me a lot of confidence, obviously.”
Italy’s Guido Migliozzi sits fourth after an opening 66, with France’s Mike Lorenzo-Vera in a share of fifth a shot further back on his return from a six-month break to address his mental health.
Lorenzo-Vera was joined on five under by Australian Jason Scrivener and Scottish pair Calum Hill and Ewen Ferguson.
South Africans Casey Jarvis and Robin Williams both began with bogey-free four-under 68s that included four birdies.
– Edited article from DP World Tour website
Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
