Jones hits career-first albatross to take two-shot lead at Soudal Open

New Zealander Sam Jones hit the first albatross of his career as he took a two-stroke lead at the Soudal Open on Thursday.

Jones, a DP World Tour tour rookie, holed his second shot from 273 yards at the par-five 17th at Rinkven International Golf Club and went on to card a nine-under 62 in the Belgian city of Antwerp.

English duo Andrew Wilson and Matthew Jordan are among a group of five players tied for second on second-under, alongside Nacho Elvira, Romain Langasque and Niklas Norgaard.

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England’s Matthew Jordan sits two-strokes behind Jones on the leaderboard

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Another Englishman, Andrew Wilson, is also two shots off the lead in Belgium

The 27-year-old Jones hit three birdies and one bogey on his front nine and followed that up with four more birdies before his albatross capped an excellent day out.

“Initially it was going to be a three-shot, I was going to lay it up (on 17),” Jones explained. “Thought about three iron off the tee, hit three wood, pulled it a little bit, hit it nicely.”

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From there, he hit a three wood into the breeze.

“I was going well already at that stage so I thought if I made a bogey here it was no big deal,” he said. “Just hit it, flushed it, called to it to be good in the air and it was.”

Jones arrived in Belgium on the back of four missed cuts at four of his last five events.

Continue to watch the DP World Tour’s Soudal Open in Belgium live on Sky Sports Golf on Friday from 12pm

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