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UAE duo Joshua Grenville-Wood and Sam Mullane made solid starts to their campaigns at The Dutch Futures on the HotelPlanner Tour.
Grenville-Wood carded an opening round of three-under-par 68 to sit in a tie for fourth on the challenging Colin Montgomerie-designed The Dutch course in Holland.
The 27-year-old, who has recently restructured his support team, navigated a windy Thursday with four birdies and a single bogey as he looks to build on his form in the latter part of his season.
Sam Mullane – Octavio Passos Getty Images
His Emirates Golf Federation counterpart, amateur Sam Mullane, is playing in just his fourth HotelPlanner Tour event of the year.
The 22-year-old, coming into the tournament straight from a three-week training camp with the Arab Golf Federation in Morocco, is aiming to gather momentum after an opening round that leaves him tied for 58th in the 156-man field.
Here’s the prize money breakdown for each golfer at the 2025 Dutch Features
Dermot McElroy posted an impressive bogey-free five under par round of 66 to set the pace after round one of The Dutch Futures.
The Northern Irishman, starting on the first, made three birdies on the front nine to turn in 32. Seven straight pars followed on the back before he closed out his round with back-to-back gains, which included a hole out on the par five 18th.
What a way to finish for Dermot McElroy 🔥
The Northern Irishman holds the early lead in Spijk.#DutchFutures pic.twitter.com/3CVKwvjxuS
— HotelPlanner Tour (@HPlanner_Tour) August 21, 2025
The 32-year-old, who sits one shot clear at the top of the leaderboard, was pleased with his first round effort in testing conditions at The Dutch.
“It was very tricky out there today,” he said. “I think there were only two holes, one into the wind and one downwind, the rest were crosswind, so it was quite tricky.
“The front nine was reasonably calm but, as I say, there were a lot of crosswinds, and it was quite gusty.
“It was hard to tell if it was slightly into or slightly down, which caught me out a couple of times, especially with the wedge shots.”
McElory has missed three consecutive cuts on the Road to Mallorca and currently sits 94th in the Rankings with six events to play before the Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A.
However, after starting the week positively in the Netherlands, the Northern Irishman is optimistic about his changes heading into the latter stages of the season.
“A good week here would be huge,” he added.
“To be honest, I’ve played terrible all year barring one good result. I’ve been practicing really hard all season, and I’m really pleased with how I am starting to hit the ball.”
“I think I did everything well out there today. I drove the ball well and my iron play was good. I only missed a couple of greens and managed to get up and down.”
Frenchman Nathan Legendre and Scot Euan Walker sit one shot back on four under par. Spanish duo Lucas Vacarisas and Santiago Tarrio, French pair Maxence Giboudot and Andoni Etchenique, New Zealander Sam Jones, German Tiger Christensen, Grenville-Wood and South African Daniel van Tonder all sit at three under par.
The second round of The Dutch Futures gets under way at 7:30am local time with leader McElroy teeing off alongside France’s Julien Sale and Spain’s Alvaro Hernandez Cabezuela at 1:40pm.
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Images: Octavio Passos / Getty Images
