Scott Jamieson and Sebastian Heisele each opened with a 7-under 65 to share the first-round lead at the DP World Tour’s Ras al Khaimah Championship in the United Arab Emirates.
After the past few events on the circuit – formerly branded as the European Tour – saw star-loaded fields, there were only two golfers inside the top 10 of the event’s first round who sit inside the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Jamieson was bogey free in taking a share of the 18-hole lead. The 38-year-old Scottsman was in position to win a few weeks ago at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship but stumbled in the final round, eventually signing for 5 over and dropping to T-10.
“My iron play was good today, I actually didn’t drive it particularly well,” he said of his Thursday effort. “There’s not a great deal of rough, so I was able to still hit is reasonably close.”
Heisele, who also was bogey-free in the first round, ranks outside the top 600 in the Official World Golf Ranking and is looking for his first DP World Tour victory. The 33-year-old’s last start was in September 2021 at the Italian Open, where he missed the cut.
The moment of the round belonged to Rasmus Højgaard, who found an, let’s just say, unique way to find the putting surface from over 240 yards. He went on to shoot 69 and was tied for 17th.
Rasmus Højgaard tops his approach from 242yds and puts it to 10ft 🤯#RakGolfChamps pic.twitter.com/4AZIgCyLkn
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 3, 2022
