ANTWERP, Belgium — Sam Jones hit the first albatross of his career as he took a two-stroke lead at the Soudal Open on Thursday.

Jones, a European tour rookie from New Zealand, holed his second shot from 273 yards at the par-five 17th at Rinkven International Golf Club and went on to card a 9-under 62 in the Belgian city of Antwerp.

Five players are tied for second: Andrew Wilson, Nacho Elvira, Romain Langasque, Niklas Norgaard and Matthew Jordan.

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."

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.

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

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