Khan recovers from poor finish

Simon Khan quickly made amends for a poor finish to his first round in the delayed Mallorca Classic this morning.

Khan was among 60 players forced to complete their opening rounds today following two thunderstorms which disrupted play on Thursday.

The 32-year-old chose not to attempt a birdie putt on the 14th hole as darkness fell last night, and was left to regret that decision when he missed it on his return to Pula Golf Club at 8.20am.

“Overall I’m happy but a little disappointed with this morning,” said Khan, who was ranked 255th in the world when he beat Paul Casey in a play-off to win his first European Tour title in the Wales Open in June.

“I left myself a six-foot putt on the 14th last night because when it’s getting dark it’s quite hard to see the line but in hindsight I should have had a go at it.

“I then bogeyed the next as well but overall it’s an improvement and only the second time since Wales that I’ve played well and putted well at the same time.”

Khan only had a 20-minute break before starting his second round and after a par on the 10th, his first hole, birdied the short 11th to move into a share of the lead on five under alongside Francois Delamontagne and Darren Fichardt.

This time the 15th produced a birdie rather than a bogey and that lifted Khan into the outright lead on six under, one clear of Delamontagne and Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson.

Andersson had started with five birdies in his first six holes but Fichardt had bogeyed the second to drop back to four under.

Pre-tournament favourite Sergio Garcia was also four under but was among the later starters.