Golf:Peter Hanson lurks as the biggest danger to first round leader Shiv Kapur at the Czech Open, and to Paul Casey in the Ryder Cup race. The 32-year-old Swede will oust the absent Casey from Europe's top nine with victory at the Prosper Resort in Celadna on Sunday, and a five-under-par 67 has left him just one behind Kapur.
Hanson lies 15th in the points race, but there is a €333,330 first prize and, as one of only two of the world’s top 50 in the field, it is a golden opportunity.
The other is Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez. Currently eighth on the cup table, he started with a 71 and should be concerned about the possibility of being overtaken by Hanson as well.
English trio Simon Dyson, Oliver Wilson and Ross McGowan are also chasing a spot in Colin Montgomerie’s side and they shot 70, 72 and 73 respectively.
Asked about the controversial decision of Casey - and also Pádraig Harrington and Luke Donald, both of whom are just outside a qualifying spot - not to enter next week’s race-ending Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, Hanson clearly stated his view.
“If you have a chance to make the team or especially if you want a pick (like Justin Rose, another stay-away) it might be good to play,” he said.
After two weeks in America during which he was eighth at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational - that made him top European - Hanson made the long trip after asking for and receiving a sponsor’s invitation on Monday.
“That gave me the chance to get into the team and the tournament organisers have been very nice to me,” he added. “If I could put myself in position come Sunday it would be fantastic.”
Kapur led from the moment he had six successive birdies from the second after teeing off at 7.20am.
“I think I was half-asleep and woke up around the turn,” said the 28-year-old Indian, who has missed his last three halfway cuts and seven of the last nine.
Kapur, ranked 256th in the world and 100th on the European Tour this season, started the inward half with back-to-back bogeys, but then birdied the 16th and 18th to hold off the chasing pack.
Hanson shares second with Argentina’s Tano Goya, while Dyson shook off jet-lag - he could not get a flight back from the States until Monday night and then flew on to Prague and caught a train to Ostrava - with four closing birdies.
“It was great to finish that way,” said the York golfer, who was joint 12th with Casey in the USPGA Championship. “I played the pro-am and was shattered, but got a good night’s sleep.”
McGowan, 11th on the points table and needing to come fourth to overtake Casey, started and ended with a double bogey, but the 16 holes in between were good enough to suggest he might yet have a say in things.
Last year’s Dubai World Championship runner-up has had wrist and shoulder injuries and made a late decision to play rather than rest.
Michael Hoey and Peter Lawrie both carded two under 70s, while Gary Murphy (73), Damien McGrane (74), Simon Thornton (74) and Shane Lowry (75) were all on the wrong side of par.
Collated first round scores in the European Tour Czech Open 2010, Prosper Golf Resort, Celadna, Czech Republic
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in
boldpar 72):
66Shiv Kapur (Ind)
67Peter Hanson (Swe), Tano Goya (Arg)
68Richard Bland, Julien Guerrier (Fra)
69Scott Hend (Aus), Richard Finch, Rick Kulacz (Aus), Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa)
70Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Anton Haig (Rsa), Alan McLean, Phillip Price, Pelle Edberg (Swe), Simon Dyson, Peter Lawrie, Anthony Wall, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Marc Warren, Miles Tunnicliff, Fredrik Widmark (Swe), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Michael Hoey
71Anthony Kang (USA), Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Nathan Smith (USA), Andrew Butterfield, Robert Coles, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Kenneth Ferrie, Graeme Storm
72Martin Wiegele (Aut), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Steve Webster, Oliver Wilson, Scott Drummond, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Simon Lilly, Gary Boyd, David Drysdale, Stephen Dodd, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Jamie Donaldson, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Ariel Canete (Arg), Tim Stewart (Aus)
73John Parry, Sion E Bebb, Soren Hansen (Den), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Paul Waring, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Mark Brown (Nzl), David Lynn, James Morrison, Tony Carolan (Aus), Gary Murphy, Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Thomas Levet (Fra), Ross McGowan
74 Damien McGrane, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Robert Rock, Alastair Forsyth, Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Simon Thornton,Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Pablo Martin (Spa), Sebi Garcia (Spa), Bradley Dredge, Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe), Viktor Skalle (Cze), Andrea Maestroni (Ita), Brett Rumford (Aus), Carl Suneson (Spa), Marco Ruiz (Par), Stephen Gallacher, Mark Foster
75Marco Soffietti (Ita), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Johan Axgren (Swe), Danny Lee (Nzl), Jamie Elson, Lukas Tintera (Cze), Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Richie Ramsay, Richard McEvoy, Martin Prihoda (Cze), Sam Hutsby, Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Mark F Haastrup (Den), David Dixon, Peter Svajlen (Svk)
76Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Christian Nilsson (Swe), Filip Mruzek (Cze), Luis Claverie (Spa), George Coetzee (Rsa), Steven O'Hara, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Gary Clark, Stanisiav Matus (Cze), Markus Brier (Aut), Chapchai Nirat (Tha)
77Andrew Tampion (Aus), Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Petr Zima jr (Cze), Steen Ottosen (Den), Robert Schovanek (Cze), Ghislain Rosier (Fra), Jonathan Lomas, Sam Little
78Gary Lockerbie, Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Jurgen Maurer (Aut), Keith Horne (Rsa), Andrew Coltart, Julien Quesne (Fra), Oliver Fisher
79Peter Whiteford, Nick Dougherty, Ondrej Lieser (Cze)
80Marek Novy (Cze), Phillip Archer, Jan Ryba (Cze), Ondrej Lebl (Cze)
81Petr Gal jr. (Cze)
82Jarmo Sandelin (Swe)
86Jiri Stryncl (Cze)
87Jakub Svarc (Cze)
89Petr Skopovy (Cze)
93Martin Rudecky (Cze)