Heidi Laine leads the Nokia Open by three strokes. Photo: Matej Verl / PDGA Euro Tour

To tame The Beast, players must battle every single hole.

Part one of the battle is in the books at the Nokia Open, the sixth PDGA Euro Tour stop of the season, and both leaders in MPO and FPO have earned that right.

For the first 18 holes at least.

Finland’s Rasmus Saukkoriipi tamed The Beast the best on Thursday, finishing with a 5-under opening round that checks in with an unofficial 1046 rating – 53 points above his rating – and a one-stroke lead over a 114-player field.

In FPO, Heidi Laine’s lead is slightly larger, but narrowly, after a plus-7 round, good enough for a 964 rating and a three-stroke lead heading into the weekend.

Rasmus Saukkoriipi leads a tight field after the first round on the Beast. Photo: Rasmus Saukkoriipi

The Nokia Open is played on a slightly different course than the European Open track, including the infamous buncr hole, which plays as hole 14 in the Nokia Open layout. Seventeen holes remain the same as the long-running PDGA Major track.

Follow the Nokia Open on PDGA Live »

Saukkoriipi carded eight birdies on the day, including a four-hole stretch to close out his round. He limited his miscues to single bogeys on a day that saw no player turn in a clean scorecard. The lead is one stroke over four players — Lauri Lehtinen, Juho Kovanen, Samuel Hänninen and Kristian Kuoska — and two strokes over four more players. In total, 11 players are within three strokes with 36 holes to play.

Laine, meanwhile, kept her bogeys to singles, and carded two birdies, including the only one in the field on hole 12. Laine leads Maria Liivamägi by three strokes and is 11 strokes clear of Anneli Tõugjas in third place.

Paul Francz tees off during the first round of the Nokia Open in Finland. Photo: Matej Verl / PDGA Euro Tour

Here are the leaders for the rest of the Euro Tour field:

• Tapani Aulu leads MP40 by one stroke over Marko Hämäläinen and three strokes over Juhani Vaino and Joni Luumi.
• In FP40, Anna-Riitta Savolainen has a one-stroke lead over Vilka Hulden.
• Tapio Saarinen has a three-stroke lead over Mikko Putaja in MP50. Martin Doerken is in third place at plus-9, four strokes off the opening-round pace.
• In MP60, Paul Francz has a four-stroke lead over Markku Kuparinen. Markku Tohni and Jari Väyrynen are tied for third.

Stay tuned for coverage of the MPO and FPO lead cards from More Disc Golf.