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Zandvoort - Home favourite Joost Luiten held the clubhouse lead at the end of a curtailed first round of the Dutch Open at Zandvoort on Thursday, but the day was overshadowed by an injury to Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti.
The 31-year-old BMW International Open champion was hit in the head by a ball and rushed to hospital, although European Tour officials expressed hope that Zanotti would quickly recover.
Miguel Vidaor, European Tour tournament director, said: "The latest report from the hospital is that all neurological tests have come back clear.
"We wish Fabrizio a speedy recovery."
Zanotti was on the 16th fairway, the seventh hole of his round, when he was hit on the forehead by a drive from Frenchman Alexandre Kaleka, who was hitting off the 14th hole.
Blood began pouring from the wound, with Zanotti's playing partner Hennie Otto immediately rendering assistance before medical staff rushed to the scene.
The European Tour said in a statement that Zanotti did not lose consciousness and that a doctor at the course established that the player was "not in immediate danger" before he was taken to hospital.
Ambulances were then called and the Asuncion-born player was rushed to a local hospital.
Chile's Felipe Aguilar, who was one of the first at the scene, and Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez travelled in the ambulance with Zanotti and withdrew from the event to stay with the Paraguayan.
Play was suspended for about two hours because of the incident and bad light later forced the action to be suspended, leaving more than 50 players to wait until Friday morning to finish their rounds.
Defending champion Luiten began his title defence with a five-under-par 65 that featured three birdies and an eagle in his last seven holes.
He leads by one
stroke from Frenchman Gary Stal and Italian duo Edoardo Molinari and
Andrea Pavan, while Scotland's Jamie McLeary was also five under with
two holes of his round still to play.
Leading first round clubhouse scores:
(GBR & IRL unless stated, par 70):
65 - Joost Luiten (NED)
66 - Gary Stal (FRA), Edoardo Molinari (ITA), Andrea Pavan (ITA)
67 - Thomas Aiken (RSA), Estanislao Goya (ARG), Maximilian Kieffer (GER), Daniel Im (USA), Andy Sullivan
68 - Matteo Manassero (ITA), Marc Warren, Paul Casey, Dominic Foos (GER), Pablo Larrazabal (ESP)
69 - Paul Waring, Robert Karlsson (SWE), Chris Doak, Brooks Koepka (USA), Richie Ramsay, Craig Lee, Eddie Pepperell, Adam Gee, Jack Doherty, Victor Riu (FRA), Darren Fichardt (RSA), Mikko Ilonen (FIN)
70 - Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND), Duncan Stewart, Shane Lowry, Jonas Blixt (SWE), Peter Whiteford, Simon Dyson, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Julien Quesne (FRA), Matthew Baldwin, Richard Bland, Wade Ormsby (AUS), Niclas Fasth (SWE), Thomas Pieters (BEL), Johan Carlsson (SWE), Alastair Forsyth, Padraig Harrington
Selected others:
71 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP), Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Thomas Bjorn (DEN), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP)
72 - Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL)
73 - Darren Clarke
