Henrik Stenson continued to put forward his claim for European Ryder Cup selection contention after another impressive showing in an equal course-record setting 64 on the opening day of the Italian Open in Rome on Thursday.
Stenson ended his day’s play tied at the top with Scottish Open winner Min Woo Lee of Australia and Finland’s Kalle Samooja at the Marco Simone course that is set to host the 2023 Ryder Cup.
“It’s certainly a lot more hilly than I expected,” Stenson said. “It’s quite a lot of elevation, either up or down, on quite a few of the holes, and some of the greens are very tricky.
“It’s got some big ridges and some mounds on them, and given the pace that we’re putting on this week, it makes putting really difficult at times. So a little bit different than I expected, but happy to get a good score in.”
While Stenson sits 49th in Europe’s Cup standings with only two weeks of competition remaining before the team is selected, the 45-year-old Swede has been on Europe’s team five times and could still become a valuable asset for this year’s squad.
“It’s certainly on my mind,” Stenson added. “I’m trying to just go about my things and play as good of a tournament I can here. I’ve done that the previous two weeks and managed to get some strong results, so I’m just trying to improve and carry on playing well. So that’s where my head is at and if we can make something happen we’ll see in the next few weeks.”
The three leader in Rome sit one shot ahead of another group of three: Eddie Pepperell, Scott Hend and Edoardo Molinari, who won a car after shooting a hole-in-one at the par-3 seventh.