GOLF SPANISH OPEN: FOR A TIME Damien McGrane was within sight of the lead but it was the refreshed, big-hitting Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez who made all the running on the opening day of the Spanish Open in Seville yesterday.
Gonzalez, who returned to the European tour after a five-week break with his family in Argentina, was back at the Real Club where he won in 2004.
Carrying fond memories of competing in Spain, the 40-year-old fired a seven under par 65 to lead by one from former English amateur champion Paul Waring.
“In Spain I feel like home. I like the people, the food, the golf courses,” said Gonzalez, who also captured the Madrid Open seven years ago.
“I’ve come with all the batteries charged and I think I have a chance to have a good tournament.”
The best of his eight birdies came at the 226-yard 17th, his eighth, where he struck “the best three-iron I have hit in a long time” to within 10 feet of the flag.
Waring has yet to record a top-five finish since coming through the 2007 qualifying school, but a month ago in Malaga he knocked four strokes off his best round on tour with a 62.
Something similar was a possibility yesterday when the 25-year-old followed three opening birdies with an eight-foot eagle putt on the long fifth.
But the former disc jockey – house music was his speciality in the clubs and bars of Liverpool – missed out on a share of the lead when he drove into sand and bogeyed the 432-yard 18th.
Waring was happy just to be in Spain this week. The air chaos caused by the volcanic ash cloud left him stuck in the Middle East and he was originally told the first flight out was May 1st.
“We managed to get out on Sunday, though, and then flew here yesterday,” he said.
McGrane formed part of a large chasing pack on four under. His round featured six birdies and just two dropped shots at the second and 14th.
Irish Open champion Shane Lowry shot a steady one under 71, while former champion Peter Lawrie was round in level.
Beyond that it was a disappointing start for the rest of the Irish contingent in the €2 million event with Darren Clarke next on three over (75), one better than Michael Hoey.
Simon Thornton carded a 77, two better than Gary Murphys 79 which leaves the pair with a mountain to climb if they are to make it into the weekend.
Earlier in the day a furious Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie made no secret of what he thought of some nearby music after a final-hole bogey six eventually left him eight shots off the lead.
Even before handing in an opening 71, Montgomerie yelled at tournament director Miguel Vidaor after being told the noise from the tented village had already been turned down once.
“Should never have happened in the first place,” shouted the eight-time European number one before adding, with expletive deleted: “Is this a party or a golf tournament?”
Montgomerie had just three-putted the long ninth, his 18th, and, having also bogeyed the 231-yard seventh, his hopes of ending more than 22 months without a top-10 finish had taken a blow.
It came as no surprise in the circumstances that the Scot, famous for his short fuse, refused to talk to reporters after emerging from the scorer’s hut.
Golf Scores
EUROPEAN TOUR:Spanish Open, Real Club de Golf, de Sevilla, Seville, Spain (Irish and Brit unless stated, par 72):
65- Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg).
66- Paul Waring.
68- Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Damien McGrane, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Danny Willett, Rafael Echenique (Arg), Carlos Del Morral (Spa), Simon Dyson, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Sebastian Garcia-Grout (Spa).
69- Francesco Molinari (Ita), Richie Ramsay, Joost Luiten (Ned), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Anthony Kang (USA), Stephen Dodd, Raul Quiros (Spa), Richard Finch, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Pedro Oriol (Spa), Mark Foster.
70- Chris Gane, Chris Wood, David Drysdale, Jorge Campillo (Spa), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Ariel Canete (Arg), Pablo Martin (Spa), Johan Edfors (Swe).
71- Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Anthony Wall, Marc Warren, Shane Lowry,Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Gregory Havret (Fra), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Manuel Quiros (Spa), Richard Bland, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Colin Montgomerie, Phillip Price, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Scott Drummond, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Gabriel Canizares (Spa), Sam Hutsby, Carl Suneson (Spa), Richard Green (Aus), Jamie Donaldson.
72- Gary Orr, Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Andrew Butterfield, James Kingston (Rsa), Sion E Bebb, Steven O'Hara, Peter Lawrie, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Gary Boyd, Alexander Noren (Swe), Christian Nilsson (Swe), David Horsey, George Coetzee (Rsa), Simon Khan, Phillip Archer, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Barry Lane.
73- Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), John Parry, Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Jamie Elson, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Santiago Luna (Spa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe), Steve Webster, Peter Whiteford, Nick Dougherty, James Morrison, Mark F Haastrup (Den), Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger), Rick Kulacz (Aus), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), James Ruth, Tano Goya (Arg), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind).
74- Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Luis Claverie (Spa), Oliver Fisher, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Robert Rock, Jordi Garcia (Spa), Pedro Linhart (Spa), David Howell, Javier Colomo (Spa), Paul Broadhurst, Robert Coles, Marco Ruiz (Par), Paul Lawrie, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Thomas Levet (Fra).
75- Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Richard McEvoy, David Lynn, Darren Clarke, Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Gary Lockerbie, Alastair Forsyth, Matt Haines, Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Lorenzo Gagli (Ita).
76- Christian Cevaer (Fra), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Anton Haig (Rsa), Andrew Tampion (Aus), Hennie Otto (Rsa), Andrew Coltart, Peter Baker, Julien Guerrier (Fra), Moises Cobo Arrayas (Spa), Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Stephen Gallacher, James Kamte (Rsa), Nacho Bermudo (Spa), Michael Hoey.
77- Shiv Kapur (Ind), Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Spa), Mark Brown (Nzl), Kenneth Ferrie, Simon Thornton.
78- Juan francisco Sarasti (Spa), David Dixon, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Marcel Siem (Ger), Sam Little, Graeme Storm.
79- Gary Murphy, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Carlos Pigem (Spa), Julien Quesne (Fra), Bradley Dredge.
80- Andrew McArthur.
84- Antonio Hortal (Spa).
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