By Matt Smith
Tapio Pulkkanen and Johannes Veerman took advantage of the afternoon conditions at Infinitum’s Lakes Course to share the clubhouse lead on a storm-hit firsrt day of the inaugural ISPS Handa Championship in Spain.

The DP World Tour finally reached Europe for the 2022 season on Thursday for the first of two back-to-back Spanish events, but heavy rain and thunderstorms meant the opening day was delayed for over two hours.

David Law of Scotland posted the low score from the early starters with a five-under 65, but the afternoon groups were treated to more benign and softy conditions and they took advantage before play was halted overnight due to darkness.

Dubai-based Spaniard Adrian Otaegui led the home charge to sit two behind the leaders on four-under, thanks to a six-birdie 66.

Both Pulkkanen and Veerman endured tough starts – with the Finn bogeying his opening hole, the 10th, and the American opening with back-to-back bogeys after teeing off at the first – but they both bounced back in style.

Veerman, a DP World Tour winner at last year’s Czech Masters, birdied six holes on the back nine to sign for a six-under 64, while Pulkkanen birdied two of his final three holes to move into a share of the overnight lead.

South Africa’s Hennie Du Plessis and SSP Chawrasia of India were also on six-under through 16 holes when bad light halted play, while Jack Senior carded a 65 late in the day to join Law on five-under.

“I had a pretty slow start, bogey-bogey, and I thought maybe this isn’t so good a day, but I made two more birdies coming in to make the turn and then I just lit it up on the back nine — putting really hot and hitting it really good,” said Veerman.

“This golf course, you have a couple of tough holes out here but you have a lot of wedges, so if you can put it in play off the tee — because the rough is so long — you can really get it close because you have short clubs in your hands. We’ll see how we go tomorrow but I’m going to go back, get to bed early and go again.

“I came through Qualifying School here in 2019 so I only have good memories about this golf course so it’s nice to come back and play well again. I lit it up in the last four rounds after making the cut on the number, so I have some really nice memories around here.”

Pulkkanen added: “I have played 50 rounds here before because my national team used to come and practise here, so it’s almost like a home course. I just hit it solid and made some putts.

“I think the greens softened up a lot after the rain so that made it easier. The greens on Tuesday were quite tough and then they were slower after the rain. The rough was wet so you want to be on the fairway but my driving was really good so I didn’t need to worry about the rough and that helped a lot.

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The post Pulkkanen and Veerman set the early pace, with Dubai’s Adrian Otaegui on the prowl appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
For the first time in more than 50 starts, Tapio Pulkkanen is leading a European Tour event after 18 holes. The 29-year-old from Finland shot a career-low opening-round 64 on Thursday at Olgiata Golf Club to jump out front at the Italian Open to take a one-stroke lead.

If you aren’t familiar with Pulkkanen, we’ll let it slide considering he’s only had four top-10 finishes on the Euro Tour. If the name does resonate, though, chances are it’s for a simple sartorial reason—his unusual choice of headwear.

Quality Sport Images

Pulkkanen’s hat of choice is called a trilby, which is distinct for its narrow brim. The trilby should not be confused for a fedora, which is a similar design but technically has a fuller, shorter crown. According to the website fashionablehats.com, the two are also meant to be worn differently, the trilby worn back on the head farther than the fedora.

Of course, the look has allowed Pulkkanen to stand out from his peers. He is known on tour by the nickname “The Hat.” And he has a pretty sweet logo that leans into his lid game.

So what’s the story with the man and his hats? Pulkkanen says he started wearing the trilby when he was a junior golfer. He was inspired by the captain of his golf club at his home course, who had an American wife and travelled to the States often and started wearing a similar hat.

There are times when he had to make a change. Two weeks ago at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the weather forces Pulkkanen to take an alternative choice with this beanie.

Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

Here’s hoping the weather this week in Rome allows Pulkkanen stay true to his roots and sport his sporty straw trilby for the next few days.

194 feet of putts holed today ?? #ItalianOpen #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/jIHCoe7uwu

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 10, 2019

The post Tapio Pulkkanen, the early leader at the Italian Open, has arguably the best hat game on the European Tour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Talk about keeping it in the family. Just hours after his U.S. Open winning brother Brooks Koepka grabbed the first round lead at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, little bro Chase snared a share of the $350,000 Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge lead.

Chase rattled off five birdies in a four-under 68 at Al Hamra G.C. to join overnight leader Jurrian van der Vaart (France) atop the leaderboard through 36-holes of the European Challenge Tour’s penultimate stop of 2017.

“I heard about Brooks’ round in China so I just wanted to make sure I made a birdie on the last hole to make sure I’m on top of the leaderboard as well!” Chase told EuropeanTour.com 

Related: Brooks Koepka leads WGC-HSBC Champions after 64 in Shanghai

“It’s a good day to be a golfer called Koepka, but there’s not too many bad days to be a Koepka! Certainly not this year anyway.”

Making it look easy

5 birdies dropped for @ChaseKoepka today as he moved to 10 under and into the #RAKGolfChallenge lead pic.twitter.com/JoVJzpvf72

— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) October 26, 2017

Brooks’ path to his maiden major at Erin Hills in June came via the Challenge Tour with the American winning four times before graduating to the European Tour in 2013. Chase has had five top-5 finishes in this year’s Road to Oman so is guaranteed to emulate his older brother by making it to the main tour and could do it with even more style as victory in RAK would give him a shot at the Challenge Tour title at next week’s €420,000 NBO Golf Classic Grand Final at Almouj Golf in Muscat.

“I’d love to top the rankings,” the 23 year said. “I think in order to do that I’ll need to win one of these last two events so that’s my goal. It’s been a great year anyway but if I can hopefully play well this weekend, I might be able to get that first win.”

Chase came close to winning the Challenge Tour’s “major”, the Kazakhstan Open last month, only to be pipped in a playoff by current order-of-merit leader, Tapio Pulkkanen. The Finnish golfer was in a share of 41st place at Al Hamra overnight.

“I’d love to win,” Chase, sixth in the moneylist entering RAK, continued. ” I was really looking forward to possibly getting that first victory in Kazakhstan – I actually didn’t get off to the greatest of starts there but I found my way into a play-off and it just didn’t quite happen. I feel like my game has been great for a while now. I missed the cut two weeks ago but I actually felt probably the best I’ve felt all season going into that week, which was quite strange.

“Then last week I thought I played my best golf of the year and I finished 20th, that’s just the way golf works I guess. This week, nothing’s really changed, I’m still playing really good golf and now the scores are there too.”

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