IT was a roller coaster first round for Eddie Pepperell at the Betfred British Masters.

The Abingdon golfer carded a two-under par 70 at The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, to give himself a good chance of making the cut.

Pepperell teed off at 1.30pm alongside countryman Sam Horsfield and Renato Paratore, from Italy, aiming to back up his 12th place at the Canary Islands Championship in Tenerife last week.

He got off to a good start with a birdie on the second hole, but a bogey immediately after brought him back to level par.

The Frilford Heath member picked up a shot at the par-three seventh, with another birdie following at the tenth.

Pepperell was two-under and looked capable of challenging at the top of the leaderboard when he managed an eagle at the par-four 13th.

Once again, though, his good work was undone with dropped shots at the following pair of holes.

A trio of pars closed out the 30-year-old’s opening round, leaving him four shots off leader Matthias Schwab.

He tees off in the same group at 8.40am tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Liam Robinson, son of Oxford United legend Les, was a surprise late withdrawal from his first European Tour competition since 2019.

The reason for the 31-year-old’s absence is unconfirmed.