Thursday 8 March 2018 11:53, UK
Pablo Larrazabal made a strong start to the Hero Indian Open after needing some last-minute assistance to make his tee time in New Delhi.
The Spaniard carded an opening-round 67 to share the morning clubhouse lead at DLF Golf and Country Club, despite still being in bed just 38 minutes before his 7am tee time.
Larrazabal's alarm did not go off and was only raised by a late wake-up call from European Tour official Dorothée Demoulins, with the world No 125 needing a quick dash via a courtesy car driver to get to the course.
"My lovely new iPhone went back to Spanish time overnight and I woke up at the hotel 38 minutes before my tee-time," he said.
"Thanks to Dorothée, the secretary of the European Tour, who called me in my room and said 'Pablo, you're playing in 38 minutes, you must wake up and go to the 10th tee'.
"I woke up, had a 10-second shower and I ran and had a courtesy car waiting for me. I think the courtesy car made a world record from the hotel to the golf course in a couple of minutes, a ride that can take 10 or 15 minutes, it was really wild."
After a limited warm-up on the range, Larrazabal picked up a shot o the second hole of the day and recovered from a double-bogey on the 15th to birdie his next three holes to turn in 34.
Larrazabal bogeyed the first but racked up five consecutive gains from the fourth to move top of the leaderboard, only to three-putt the par-four ninth for a closing blemish.
"My heart was pumping big time, I was very nervous," Larrazabal added. "The adrenaline didn't help. After hitting 10 balls on the range, I told my caddie that I had to stop because I was nervous.
"I normally take my time in the morning, I wake up three hours before, have my breakfast slowly to wake up.
"I was really, really sleepy, my heart didn't help at all. The tenth tee-shot is quite scary so I tried to thin one in the middle of the fairway and tried to keep it going."
Watch the Hero Indian Open throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Friday from 5.30am on Sky Sports Golf.
