Tom McKibbin’s bid to earn a PGA Tour card for next season is still on track after he finished the opening round of the Estrella Damm NA Andalucía Masters inside the top-10.
The 21-year-old needs to be one of the top-10 finishers who do not already possess PGA Tour cards in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai at the end of the year in order to earn a spot on the American circuit next season, and is currently ranked eighth.
He did his hopes of moving up a few places in that standing at the end of the week no harm with a strong first day at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande in San Roque as six birdies and a solitary bogey led to a five-under 67, good for a share of seventh.
Despite being well up the leaderboard, McKibbin is already five shots off the early lead as France’s Julien Guerrier flirted with a 59 after birdieing nine of his first 11 holes, only to cool off on the back nine and add just one more birdie to finish with a 10-under-par round of 62.
That sees him hold a one-shot lead after England’s Dan Brown set the early pace with a nine-under 63 that contained two eagles and was similarly flawless, with home favourite Jorge Campillo also keeping in touch after an eight-under 64 as scoring was low on day one in Andalucía.
LIV Golf star Jon Rahm, playing in the group behind McKibbin and making his third DP World Tour start in the last four weeks, opened with a two-under 70 but it could have been a lot worse had it not been for three birdies in his last five holes to claw himself back into red figures.
“It just wasn’t my sharpest,” sighed Rahm. “As good as I hit it off the tee, I made too many mistakes with my irons and when you’re not striking it solidly in this wind, you’re going to pay the price, and that’s what happened today.
“It was pretty early on that I realised the swing wasn’t great and it was going to be a bit of a battle. But on a day like that, the crowd is always going to be helpful and pull you back.
“I missed that putt on four (from inside three feet) and had some cheers and a lot of support and I was able to finish strong.
“I’m happy that the last five holes I played some good golf and gave myself some chances and posted not the best score, but a score and hopefully I can improve upon it the rest of the week.”
McKibbin tees off his second round off the first tee at 12:50pm UK time alongside Adrian Otaegui and Sebastian Söderberg.