Wales Open, 1st Round

Strong start for Wood at Wales Open

ESPN staff

August 29, 2013

Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley hits the first shot of the tournament © Getty Images

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Chris Wood made a strong start to the Wales Open after the Englishman carded a five-under 66 to trail leader Espen Kofstad by two shots.

Wood, who was the best-placed amateur and finished tied for third at the Open in 2008, kicked off his round on the back nine, where he collected an eagle on the par-4 15th and a birdie on the par-5 18th.

His bright start continued when he arrived to his final nine holes, as he added three more birdies. However, he was unable to avoid a bogey-free round as he dropped one shot on his final hole of the day on the par-5 ninth.

Kofstad carded a superb seven-under 64 to lead by two at the Celtic Manor, impressing towards the end with a run of three birdies and an eagle at 18 where he holed out from the greenside bunker.

Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley hit the first shot of the tournament, and carded a one-under 70. Richard Green is five-under for the event and two shots off leader Kofstad, while Mark Foster is four-under with Robert Rock one shot behind.

The likes of Francesco Molinari, Thorbjorn Olesen and Miguel Angel Jimenez did not have a good opening day, with Molinari two-over, Olesen three-over and Jimenez low down the leaderboard at seven-over.

The Wales Open is the first event as part of the Ryder Cup qualification process for the 2014 staging of the tournament at Gleneagles.

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