Victor Sidal Svendsen holds a one-stroke lead following a low-scoring first round of the Rosa Challenge Tour at Rosa Golf Club.
The Dane, among the morning groups in Konopiska, made the most of calm conditions, mixing eight birdies and an eagle with just two bogeys to card an eight under par 62.
It was enough to finish day one at the top of the leaderboard, just clear of Haider Hussain, with the 28-year-old pleased by the overall performance.
“It was good,” he said. “It was very nice. I hit my irons very well. I kept it in play, hit it close and made some putts.
“The only thing I’m kind of disappointed about is that sometimes I wasn’t allowing myself to hit good shots and that’s when I made bogey.
“All in all, I’m very pleased with today.”
Sidal Svendsen got off to a hot start with five birdies in his opening seven holes to pull clear of the group, before a dropped shot at the par four ninth saw the leader make the turn in 31.
“Getting to five under par through seven kind of took me by surprise, I tried to stay in the moment, but it was hard, some thoughts popped up, but it was very fun.”
An eagle at the par five tenth helped extend the 28-year-old’s advantage at the top, as he made four consecutive pars before two further gains at the 15th and 16th holes.
A poor tee shot at the par three 17th resulted in a bogey, but the Dane bounced back again at the last, an incredible approach shot leaving a routine birdie putt to cap off a fantastic day.
“The tenth was pretty nice,” he added. “I hit a driver down the left side and had 217 metres, so hit a five iron and almost slammed it, and it ended up at half a foot away from the hole, so it was a pretty nice bounce back.
“I felt like there was a few bad shots on my back nine, but I managed to get around it somehow. I made a good par putt on 14 which gave me some momentum. I made a couple of birdie putts then on 15 and 16, which was pleasing.
“I was quite frustrated with the bogey on 17, but it was still a good score and needed to still play 18 so I needed to go again.”
A tough season for Sidal Svendsen so far has seen him make just six cuts in his 16 starts on the HotelPlanner Tour, with his best finish coming at the Infortar Estonian Challenge, where he finished in a tie for seventh.
The Dane will be looking for a change of fortunes this week as he bids to improve his position on the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
“The course is the same as it has been over the last few days, the greens were a bit quicker, but the greens are very soft. There are a few perfect numbers for me where I was clubbing up just to keep the spin down otherwise it’s going to roll back to your feet almost.
“The goal is to stay present, to play to the best of my ability and control what I can control, and the rest is going to come.”
English duo Andrew Wilson and John Gough share third place on six under par, one-stroke ahead of Austrian Lukas Nemecz, Holand’s Wil Besseling, Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen and Scotland’s Ryan Lumsden who sit in a share of fifth.
The second round of the Rosa Challenge Tour gets under way at 7am local time on Friday morning, with Sidal Svendsen teeing it up alongside Poland’s Oskar Zabrowski and Switzerland’s Jeremy Freiburghaus at 1:53pm.
