Playing his first world-class tournament in nearly six years, Brad Dalke opened the DP World Tour’s BMW International Open with a 3-under 69 on Thursday in Munich.
Dalke, a 28-year-old former prodigy turned YouTuber, is five shots off the lead shared by Jayden Schaper and Henny du Plessis, although Dalke sits comfortably inside the cut line thanks to four birdies in his first 12 holes and some late par saves.
Dahlke’s first round at München Eichenried Golf Club nearly included a hole-in-one on the par-3 second hole, where Dahlke’s 230-yard tee shot narrowly missed the right side of the cup before settling a few feet away.
He added a pair of putts for birdie on the par-4 ninth hole and the par-5 11th hole before draining a 34-footer for birdie on the par-3 12th hole.
After bogeying the par-4 14th, Dalke made a 30-foot par save and bogeyed the par-4 15th. It then rose and fell for par to the right of the right greenside bunker at the par-3 17th, rolling 15 feet in the process. He washed his final tee shot at the par-5 18th before hitting his third shot to 70 yards, leaving himself just 3 feet for par, which he converted.
Dalke’s 69 points bested the likes of Sergio Garcia (71), Casey Jarvis (71), Patrick Reed (72) and Eugenio Chacarra (72), among others.
This is just Dalke’s sixth career world ranking start. He missed qualifying for the 2016 Valero Texas Open and then missed the cut at the 2017 Masters and US Open, which he qualified for as the No. 2 U.S. Amateur behind Curtis Luck. Three years later, Dahlke, who graduated from Oklahoma in 2019, made his first professional appearance in the LocalIQ Series two weeks before missing the weekend at the 2020 Evans Scholars Invitational on the Korn Ferry Tour, his final appearance in the world rankings.