Colin Montgomerie and Greg Norman moved into a share of second place on the opening day of the Smurfit European Open at the K-Club while the venue’s touring professional Paul McGinley endured a dismal return after a two week lay-off.
Both shot three-under 69’s - as did France’s Sebastien Delagrande and Sweden’s Niclas Fasth - to get within one shot of the early pace-setter Jorge Berendt from Argentina. McGinley on the other hand slumped to an opening 77 in a round which started and finished with disaster.
"I had a terrible start, I don’t know what happened to me, I was hitting it great on the range, then got to the tee and pulled my drive left," said McGinley who opened with a double-bogey, bogey combination. To the Dubliners credit he rallied to get his round back to one-under by the time he played the fourth, his 13th.
"I got it back with five holes to play, then drove it under a tree where I couldn’t recover and hit the tree again and nearly had a fresh air shot. I then followed up with two double-bogeys one of which hit it into the water," explained a dejected yet determined McGinley.
"This is not me, I don’t play this standard of golf and I find it really surprising. I took a holiday in my fortnight off, did some practice and felt really refreshed coming here this week.
"I’m not going to hide away from this, I’ll stay and face it by playing in tournaments and get my confidence back that way."
At present Padraig Harrington and Gary Murphy are the leading Irishmen after carding level par 72’s. "I’m a little disappointed with my round because it was a perfect day for scoring," said Harrington who might feel more pleased as the day goes on and finds himself still close to the leaders. The defending champion Darren Clarke had a mixed bag of two bogeys, two birdies and two pars in his opening six holes to remain level par. Fellow Ulsterman Michael Hoey didn’t enjoy a good start, carding a three-over 75.
Elsewhere Eamonn Darcy also finished with 75 while Des Smyth slumped to a 79 and Foxrock professional David Walker, who plays on the PGA Irish circuit, shot 81. Scotland’s Neil Manchip, the head teaching pro at Royal Dublin and one of the leading players on the Irish scene, figured well with an opening one-under 71.