Cianchetti leads with course record 62 (-10)
Only one day of rest after the end of the Ein Bay Open, just the time for some fine-tuning training and another Covid-test check for all – players, staff, caddies and coaches, all negative – and today the 120 contenders of the Egypt Swing went back to work with new energy to compete in the 9th edition of the Red Sea Little Venice Open, taking place on a different mix of the Sokhna Golf Club (the A+B courses).
With less aggressive temperatures than a few days ago, and a pleasant breeze from the North, Italian Luca Cianchetti grabbed the spotlight as he signed a new course record 62 (-10), with 8 birdies and 1 eagle, leaving his nearest contender – Spaniard Dani Berna – three strokes back, at 65 (-7), and Englishman Bradley Bawden in third position at 66 (-6).
“I made just one mistake today”, said Cianchetti of his bogey-free round, “but it was on the good side, so I made a birdie anyway. I managed to keep calm and focussed the whole round, not getting caught up in the heat or trying to overdo it, I played my game and that led to a minus 10”.
“I’m happy about how I’ve putted today, 28 putts in all, and from the tee I hit 10 fairways, which is good”, said the 25-year-old from Modena, winner of the 2019 Katameya Dunes Open. “This season has started better for me than the last one when I did not play well and finished 46th in the Order of Merit, just inside the cut line to retain my card for 2021. I had a top-ten at the Abruzzo Open last month, and a couple of other good tournaments. I arrived here in Egypt trusting my game, but my putting was disappointing last week, and I missed the cut. Today I found back the right feeling with the putter and it certainly was the best part of my game, together with the long game as I was always pretty close to the pin – the longest putt I’ve made was from 7 metres. Of course, I did not expect to shoot 10 under, but I knew I was playing well and was just waiting for a good score, which obviously arrived today!”.
A total of 54 players shot under par, and among them Swiss Mathias Eggenberger who made a hole-in-one on hole n. 9 (par 3, 186 mt) with his 6-iron, and with a total of 68 (-4) is sharing the 8th position with six more colleagues.
Tomorrow the second round of the Red Sea Little Venice Open will start at 7:00 and at the end of the day the top 40 and ties, plus amateurs within the cut line, will be admitted to the third, final round.
Click here for the 1st round results.
