David Lipsky (Usa) First round 65 (-7)
I played well and I got my putter working today. I hit it alright, not great, but I think I holed 150 feet of putts today so that always helps. I was trying to be aggressive and it didn’t work out for me. I was just trying to get it to 15-20 feet from the hole and luckily I kept making them. Everything’s in good shape out here. The greens are pure and you have a perfect lie every time so it’s definitely good playing conditions. The ball isn’t going quite as far this week, the air’s a little bit heavy but you adjust. I just need to try execute the shots tomorrow and hole a few more putts.

Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) First round 65 (-7)
It was a great round, I started slowly with only two birdies in the front nine but five birdies on the back nine so it was great. It’s a quick recovery from Morocco – I had a good flight and I feel good physically so it’s nice to be up there now. I think I played my best score today. I had some struggles today but had a couple of good up and downs, a couple of good bunker shots so I’m happy. I was the best player in the field on the par fives last week in Morocco so I continued that into this week, which is important on this course, and I feel like I can use my length to this long course so that’s good. I’m going to use the same game plan and I only played seven holes in the practice round so I wasn’t sure about the back nine, but now I know it better, so same again tomorrow.

John Catlin (Usa) First round 66 (-6)
I definitely hit a lot of good shots out there. I love this golf course and the greens are in terrific shape. I felt like I hit a lot of the greens which definitely helped, having a lot of putts on those greens takes a little bit of the pressure off and I was able to hole a couple of the long ones too.
I made a great one on nine, probably a 45-footer so that was a nice bonus too. I’m very happy with an opening round 66. There are some holes you can be aggressive on, for sure, and then there are some holes you have to play smart – 18 for example, for me the wind wasn’t really ideal so I took a three-wood knowing I was going to have a longer club going in but I knew I could get the ball on the fairway. A couple of holes were like that where I felt I would have a longer club going in but in the fairway. Some holes, you’re definitely hitting driver to get it down there a little further, some holes you’re playing back a little bit but I had a good game plan and luckily I was able to execute it. The par fives are definitely where you can make up some birdies – I wish I could have gotten one on 17 there, it was a tough shot. There is thick sand this week and I just got under it but I was able to make a nice putt for par to save it. We have a long way to go – 54 more holes – so you’ve just got to keep going.

Gavin Green (Mas) First round 67 (-5)
It’s nice to have eight birdies on my card today and you can really go low here. There were a few holes which I got myself out of position and struggled to make par. But if you’re in play and you’re having a good iron day, you can go pretty low on this course. The greens are receptive and they are pretty good, smooth but some pins are tough and you got to be careful. It has been a solid day. I hit lots of two-irons and didn’t miss many fairways today. There were a couple of holes where I was contemplating whether I should take the risk or not but I stuck to my game plan. I got it onto the fairway, wedged it close and made birdies. So that’s going to be the game plan for the week.

Miguel Tabuena (Phi) First round 67 (-5)
It was a pleasant surprise to be really honest as I was out of action for about a month because of my back injury. I didn’t have any expectations as I only started to hit balls last week! I changed my putter and it was simply hot today. I just got to work on my driving. It was hard seeing my friends competing when I had to take a break. I had to pull out from Malaysia and India and I was in good form heading into those events. But I got the all-clear from the doctor last Tuesday to start practicing and not play actually. So far, so good and let’s see how it goes from here.