South Africa’s George Coetzee finished level par, after a round littered with birdies and bogeys on Thursday during early morning action at the Nordea Masters in Sweden.
Coetzee made two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine, and cancelled out his three birdies on the back nine with three dropped shots to finish with a level par 73.
Countryman Jaco Van Zyl went one shot better, with just one bogey at the 7th slowing his progress, and is T11 alongside SA Open winner Graeme Storm and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen.
Five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys helped Italian Renato Paratore into the early lead at -5.
Meanwhile, last week’s winner, Alex Noren, struggled on his return to home soil, as he finished +2 for the day while the top-ranked player in the field. Henrik Stenson. also did not manage to dip under par on Thursday. The only other player in the top 50 in the world, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, joined the Swedes and carded a 73.
First round morning marquee scores:@henrikstenson – 73 (Level Par)@MattFitz94 – 73 (Level Par)@Alex_Noren – 75 (2 Over Par) pic.twitter.com/dzkVvXxUbV
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) June 1, 2017
Photo: File
