Zander Lombard took advantage of calm early conditions to post an eight‑under‑par 63 and hold a one‑shot lead after the opening round of the Soudal Open at Rinkven International Golf Club.
The South African admitted that he has struggled to put together four rounds lately, but arrived in Belgium looking to build on a promising start at Real Club de Golf El Prat two weeks ago.
A fast opening stretch allowed him to set the early target as the second event of the European Swing got under way, rolling in birdie putts from 19 and 17 feet at the second and third, adding further gains at five and six and holing from 30 feet at the ninth to make the turn in 30.
After nearly making another at the tenth, Lombard picked up two more birdies at the 11th and 13th, before bouncing back from his only dropped shot of the day at 15 with back-to-back birdies from the 16th.
“Yeah, it was really cool starting this morning," he said following his round.
"Perfect weather conditions, no breeze, greens were rolling tremendously. So it was fun to post a score early in the week and see what it has in store."
“I missed the fairway on seven and eight and scrambled two good pars, and I think that kept the momentum to make a outside chance birdie on nine.
“So that definitely kept the momentum going into that back nine, which for me on my eye is the tougher nine. But I felt like I've really controlled the ball well, and even when I did miss, I missed it well to give myself chances to, to save par. So all in all, it was a, it was a smart round of golf with two bonus extra shots.
The 31-year-old regained his DP World Tour card for this season with victory at DP World Tour Qualifying School following a well-documented return from injury.
While he had a promising start to his 2026 campaign with a top five in Mauritius, his best so far this year has been a tie for 33rd, yet there have been plenty of good signs within that. His bounce-back from bogey at the 15th today was one of those signs, and he pinpointed his strong finish as very important for his momentum.
“Especially going into tomorrow, I talk about a lot with my caddie, it's just keeping that momentum and I've just lacked momentum the last couple of tournaments, sort of play well for two out of the four rounds and, it's gonna be nice to, to build on this for the week."
Adding to that motivation is the impressive recent success his compatriots have been enjoying on the DP World Tour. Recent winner Yurav Premlall was the third South African to have a breakthrough maiden win on Tour this season at the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship, following in the footsteps of Jayden Schaper and Casey Jarvis, who both have recorded their first and second wins in the past few months.
Asked about their recent success, Lombard explained they all feed off each other.
“I don't know. Maybe, I think we all feed off each other. I think we definitely, there's good camaraderie out there and we all, we all mate, so definitely when one wins, the next definitely wants to follow up.”
STERNE IN THE HUNT
Lombard leads fellow South African Richard Sterne and Dane Jacob Skov Olesen by a shot, with Olesen setting the early pace before being overtaken by Lombard and matched by a bogey-free 64 from Sterne.
Olesen, also searching for his maiden win, turned a frustrating morning on the range into his lowest opening round of the season, firing a superb seven‑under‑par 64 with new irons in the bag.
"I had a terrible range session, which usually is a pretty good sign, actually," he said. "I couldn't find the centre of the face on the range this morning so I figured then that'll be good. I usually play quite well when I hit it terrible on the range.
"I got new irons in the bag, loving them. just seeing a bit more of what I want."
Sterne, who has missed his last three cuts in a row on the DP World Tour, was pleased to see hard work paying off as he hopes to keep himself in contention over the next three days.
Having opened with a birdie, the six time DP World Tour winner picked up shots at four and five before a run of three birdies from the tenth and a final birdie at the par five 17th.
"It’s about time I did something half decent in a round of golf," he said afterwards.
"I’m pretty pleased. I've been working hard and it’s nice to see some progress. It’s pretty tight on some holes, and it's a course you need to position yourself well off the tee, and then it gives you opportunities. I was fortunate, the one or two bad tee shots, I had good up and downs, and the putter saved me once or twice, but overall, my ball striking was good, and that's something that has been letting me down.
"It gives me confidence, for sure. I started feeling, the last two days, that I was hitting the ball a lot better, and seeing what I wanted to see, so it gave me a bit of confidence, and that came through today. There’s three days to go, it’s a long way to go. I just want to get myself into contention again, and feel that I'm able to hit the shots I want to, which is something that's been lacking for some time now. So hopefully, I'm on the right path."
Tom Vaillant sits in fourth place on five under par, with a group of 11 players a further shot back that includes fellow Frenchman Martin Couvra, who delighted the crowds by holing out for eagle at the 14th.
The biggest highlight of the day belonged to Eddie Pepperell, making his 300th start on the DP World Tour this week, who made a hole in one on the 15th on his way to an opening 69.
🚨 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐄-𝐈𝐍-𝐎𝐍𝐄 🚨
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 21, 2026
EDDIE PEPPERELL MAKES HIS FOURTH CAREER ACE ON HIS 300TH DP WORLD TOUR START!#SoudalOpen pic.twitter.com/VeD8jOMBgS
© DP World Tour