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Julien Guerrier delivered a brilliant birdie blitz on the front nine as he shot a sparkling 62 to take a one-lead lead after the first round of the 2024 Estrella Damm NA Andalucía Masters.
Frenchman Guerrier scored five straight birdies on the second hole before adding more strokes on the eighth and ninth holes to net 29 strokes.
And he kept the momentum going as he started the back nine, birdieing the 10th and 11th to move into fourth place straight away.
Guerrier continued to earn birdie opportunities, but had to wait until the 15th for his next win, when he used an excellent approach shot to set up a four-foot putt that gave him the lead for the first time.
And he finished his round with three straight pars to reach 10 under, posting his lowest round par on the DP World Tour and one shot ahead of early clubhouse leader Dan Brown after 18 holes.
England’s Brown had set the target at 9 under in the morning after posting two eagles and five birdies in a flawless 63. He sits alone in second place, one ahead of home favorite Jorge Campillo, after the Spaniard scored 64 points without a bogey.
After starting his round with a par, Guerrier opened his birdie account after climbing up and down from a bunker the second time before hitting another hole from nearly 35 feet away the third time.
He made it three straight times from ten feet on the short fourth hole before putts from about five feet on the fifth and sixth holes put him at five under after six holes.
A par on the seventh hole broke the birdie run, but he recovered after a stunning drive on the par-3 eighth before a six-foot birdie on the ninth hole took him to the turn in 29 shots.
The 39-year-old made his 18-foot birdie attempt in the 10th round to complete a winning hat trick, before pulling level with early leader Brown at nine under with a shot from close range in the next round.
Guerrier took the clear lead on the 15th with a three-foot birdie putt before powering his way home.
Speaking about his spectacular start, Guerrier said: “I felt like I was playing in the top nine on PlayStation! It was very nice.”
“But we know golf, we know we have to stay in the present. Of course it was really nice, but I try to stay focused because we know that anything can happen with this wind.”
“When you play like that and everything goes your way, you take everything and that was obviously a great feeling.”
“And the front nine wasn’t easy because the wind was blowing and it was tighter. So it was so nice to play a game like that.”
“From the outside it looks easy, but it’s very hard to stay in the present because you’re so excited about your game and having fun with it.”
“So sometimes the emotion is too much and you try to calm yourself down a little. But at the same time you try to enjoy it, so it’s a good balance of finishing well and having a good lap.”
“I feel good. I like Spain – I play very often and very well in Spain.”
“It’s a good opening lap and we still have three laps to go.”
Ugo Coussaud made a brilliant hole-in-one on the par-3 eighth, holed with a six-iron from 175 yards.
