HAMPSHIRE’S James Ablett shot three-over-par in the first round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth today.

The Lee-on-the-Solent professional carded a 75, leaving him probably needing to pick up at least two, and perhaps three, shots to make the cut tomorrow.

Ablett, who qualified for the tournament after winning the PGA South Region order of merit last year, was level par after nine holes in his European Tour debut.

But a run of four bogeys in five holes on the back nine cost him.

His day nearly ended on a brilliant high, as he almost pitched in for an eagle at the last, only to see the ball lip out.

But his tap in for birdie left him still in with a shout of making it into the weekend.

Ablett said: “I played okay, a couple of three putts, a couple of bad tee shots on the wrong hole.

“I’ve put myself in a bad situation, which is an almost certain bogey from where I put them and I only took bogey, so that’s one good thing.

“I tried to be as patient as I could out there.

“I just didn’t quite get the iron shots close enough to the hole to give myself enough reasonable opportunities.

“I was level par with the last six to play and I finished on an ambulance really.

“It’s just niggly little mistakes rather than devastating ones.”

Speaking about his birdie at the last, Ablett added: “It’s one shot less to think about trying to get tomorrow.

“It’s double happiness if you hole the wedge shot at the last, but we’d take four on the tee.

“Three-under’s not beyond my ability.

“Obviously, the golf course is not inclined that way at the moment.

“It’s very breezy, the wind is swirling around like you wouldn’t believe.

“69 or 70 may be the mark for me tomorrow as a score, round about level.

“That’s what we’ll go for – if we go level par and we miss it, we miss it.”