Coby Carruthers will take a one-stroke lead into day two of the Abu Dhabi Challenge after posting an eight under par opening round of 62 at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club.
The Australian, among the late starters in the UAE, made the most of the calmer afternoon conditions, maintaining a clean card along with his eight birdies.
The 21-year-old quickly found his rhythm with a gain on the difficult second before moving two under par with a birdie on the drivable par four fourth. Carruthers picked up another shot on seven to turn at three under and would climb the leaderboard with four birdies in five holes from the 11th.
Carruthers closed out his round with an eighth birdie of the day on the par five 18th, pulling one clear of Belgian James Meyer de Beco, who had earlier set the clubhouse target.
“I got off to a nice start,” Carruthers said. “I holed a nice birdie putt on the second. I kept it on play off the tee and missed just two greens which I know is super important around here.
“There wasn’t anything that stood out. Everything was really solid. I drove it quite nice as I said and holed a few solid putts and kept giving myself chances.”
Carruthers has benefitted from the support of the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) in recent years and won the 2024 UAE Cup as an amateur at this week’s venue. That result saw the Australian earn a spot in last year’s Abu Dhabi Challenge as well as Asian Tour Q School.
And having received one of 30 invites on offer for the Emirates Golf Federation for this week’s event, the 21-year-old is grateful to be given the chance to compete on the HotelPlanner once more, this time as a professional.
“After winning the UAE Cup a couple of years ago the EGF have been nice enough to invite me the past two years which has been really nice of them,” he added.
“Turning professional wasn’t meant to be this easy! I missed the cut last week so it was about resetting and making sure I was in a good head space. I’ve played well here before and it’s nice to be back here.”
Despite his positive start and previous good form around this week’s lay-out, Carruthers insists he will look to remain grounded with 54 holes to play in the desert.
“I’m just going to go out there and have fun,” the Australian said. “I’ve been struggling a little bit on the range but I just went out and played today and that’s what I’m good at. I’m just going to stick on top of things, keep hitting fairways and greens and see what happens.”
Belgian Matthis Besard, German Michael Hirmer and Dane Victor Sidal Svendsen share third position on six under, one-stroke clear of a seven-way tie on five under.
The second round of the Abu Dhabi Challenge gets under way at 6:30am local time with Carruthers teeing off alongside England’s Callum Tarren and Irishman Ronan Mullarney at 7:30am.
