It was an approach that worked to perfection. Green made an eagle and six birdies, with only one dropped shot on the twelfth, to finish on seven-under. This was an excellent score and left him on his own in the lead – slightly reminiscent of eventual winner Martin Kaymer's first-round performance last week, if not quite so dominant. Kaymer had what turned out to be a priceless three-shot lead over the chasing pack; Green has only one stroke in hand.
|
|
|
The hole-in-one prize on the par-3 17th backed by motorboats on Loch Lomond
|
The four men in hot pursuit on six-under are Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain, Scotland's Martin Laird, Irishman Paul McGinley, and Graeme Storm of England. McGinley was the only one of the afternoon starters to place so highly on the leaderboard, and that only thanks to birdies on the 8th and 9th, his last two holes. This suggested that the morning conditions were more favorable, but the weather in Scotland is so changeable that there is no guarantee that this situation will be repeated tomorrow.
Fernandez-Castano has been in good form recently. He now has four tour wins to his credit, and is lying 14th in the Race to Dubai. He scored eight birdies, including a run of four from the 12th to the 15th, although a couple of bogeys in mid-round set him back a little.
Home fans will be delighted to see the name of Scotland's Martin Laird high on the leaderboard. Martin is something of an unknown quantity in his homeland – he has never played an event on the European Tour. Instead he secured his PGA card in America where he has played all his top-level golf. On the basis of his first-ever round in the Scottish Open – a bogey-free 65 - it is a career choice that seems to have paid off, and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his place tomorrow and into the weekend. Scotland is crying out for a new golfing hero.
"I was a little nervous," he said. "I was probably a little more nervous than normal. I'm always excited to start tournaments, but I would say yesterday was more the day that was killing me. I couldn't wait to play today and I couldn't really go to sleep last night. I was ready to go."
Of his first experience playing in front of his home fans as a professional, he will guard happy memories. "It was nice. Got a few "Come on Martin" shouts, and stuff like that. Then there are the people that you notice, like my grandma, my grandpa, my uncle – they have never seen me play in a tournament. It was good to play in front of them and to play well. I didn't come all the way over here to have them watch me struggle."
|
|
|
No shortage of stunning scenery - Andres Romero against a dramatic backdrop
|
Behind the first chasing pack lies Australia's Adam Scott, on his own in sixth place at five-under, followed by a group of ten on four-under.
Many of the former and current major title-holders are in good shape. The first of them, South Africa's Retief Goosen and Scotland's Paul Lawrie, lie on three-under. Angel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, Ernie Els and Geoff Ogilvy are in a log-jam of twenty-four players on two-under, along with other big names like Miguel Angel Jiminez, Ian Poulter, Darren Clarke and the ever-popular John Daly.
Also in that group is China's Liang Wenchong – I took the time to have a long chat with him after his round and will produce a detailed interview between this tournament and The Open, which he is anticipating with enthusiasm.
Title-holder Graeme McDowell would have wanted to do better, but at one-under he is only six strokes off the lead and still very much in the hunt. Nick Faldo and Jose-Maria Olazabal are a little further behind on even-par.
There was disappointment, though, for Scotland's former Masters and Open-winner Sandy Lyle, who finished the day in joint-96th place at one-over, and even more so for another home favorite Colin Montgomerie, who started his round with a birdie but finished a distant 112th on two-over.
Both players had been on the top of their game yesterday in a pro-am that featured all the top names; it is disappointing to see that they were not able to carry their form through to the real thing.
Leaders:
64 – Richard Green (Aus)
65 – Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Sp); Martin Laird (Sco); Paul McGinley (Ire); Graeme Storm (Eng)
66 – Adam Scott (Aus)
Ten players on 67
(China.org.cn July 10, 2009)
