GOLF: DUTCH OPENWORLD NUMBER three Martin Kaymer made a miserable start to the defence of his Dutch Open title when he squelched to a four-over-par 74 at a soaking Hilversumsche course yesterday.
The German, still suffering from the heavy cold he picked up last week in Switzerland, trails the first round leaders, his compatriot Marcel Siem and twice Dutch winner Simon Dyson of Britain, by nine strokes.
Shane Lowry, Michael Hoey and Paul McGinley were the joint-best of the Irish contingent – both shot opening rounds of 70, while Damien McGrane was three shots further back.
Kaymer now needs a significant change in fortunes in the second round if he is to make the cut to try to hold off world number four Rory McIlroy in the world rankings.
“My cold is making me a little weak for sure and that’s not the best when the course is playing so long in the wet,” said Kaymer. “Twice I had to hit into the greens with woods on par-fours.
“But I just didn’t use all my chances, especially the par-fives. I only had one birdie as well and I just couldn’t make a putt. At least I have a long lie-in to try to get myself in shape for tomorrow.”
The 2010 US PGA champion gets his extra sleep because the second half of the field – including McIlroy and world number two Lee Westwood – had only just begun their rounds when he finished his in early evening.
A three-and-a-half hour rain delay, following the loss of 45 minutes earlier to repair four vandalised greens, severely disrupted play.
McIlroy and Westwood are in the second half of the draw and will have to finish off their rounds today before turning around to play their second rounds.
Westwood was level-par after eight holes when darkness closed in to end play and McIlroy was one over, also after eight.
Rounds of 65 left Dyson and Siem a stroke in front of Robert Dinwiddie. Dyson is looking for a hat-trick of Dutch wins and a second victory of the season to maintain his bid for a career-best order of merit placing this campaign.
“It was probably the wettest course Ive ever played, but this tournament is always good to me,” the July Irish Open winner said. “My best finish on the order of merit is eighth and I’d love to beat that.”
Siem, lying 104th on the money-list, cited improved fitness for his appearance on the leaderboard.
“I’ve been working out every day since last week and it’s made my posture better,” he said.
But the real story was the vandalism of the greens, which saw four surfaces dug up overnight – rendering them unplayable in places. Greens staff worked hard to cordon off the offending areas and place the pins in unaffected spots, although organisers are still unsure as to the motive behind the attack.
“Early this morning we ascertained damage to four of the greens here at Hilversumsche,” championship director Daan Slooter said.
“For this evening and the rest of the tournament we have increased security substantially. I’m very disappointed for all the people here at the club who worked so hard over the past few days.”
Collated latest first round scores at the KLM Open, Hilversumsche GC. (Bri Irl unless stated, par 70): Note: Play was suspended due to bad light.
Scoreboard
65Marcel Siem (Ger), Simon Dyson
66Robert Dinwiddie
67Anders Hansen (Den), Oliver Wilson, David Lynn
68Marc Warren, Stephen Dodd, Robert Coles
69N Lemke (Swe), R Karlberg (Swe), J Elson, D Dixon, M Brier (Aut), L Gagli (Ita), R Miller (Ned), T Levet (Fra)
70T Aiken (Rsa), J Parry, F Fritsch (Ger), T Jaidee (Tha), Shane Lowry, D Kemmer (USA), M Jonzon (Swe), B Hebert (Fra), Michael Hoey, E Molinari (Ita), R Ramsay, D Gaunt (Aus), N Colsaerts (Bel), V Dubuisson (Fra), L Saltman, S Benson, M Haines, T Olesen (Den), A Kaleka (Fra), Paul McGinley
71S Maurits (Ned), P Price, S Shankar P Chowrasia (Ind), J Morrison, R Gonzalez (Arg), A Kang (USA), G Fdez-Castano (Spn), B Dredge
72C Cevaer (Fra), J Haeggman (Swe), R Echenique (Arg), D Huizing (Ned), S Jamieson, J Sjoholm (Swe), S Gallacher, T Remkes (Ned), F Zanotti (Par), B Wiesberger (Aut), R McGowan
73Damien McGrane, J Luiten (Ned), B Collier, R Saxton (Ned), M Fraser (Aus) 74 G Murray, JM Olazabal (Spn), JB Gonnet (Fra), M A Carlsson (Swe), M Kaymer (Ger), N Nube (Ned)
75C Nilsson (Swe), Soren Hansen (Den), Tim Sluiter (Ned), Tano Goya (Arg)
76F Aguilar (Chi), S Lewton, M Tullo (Chi) 77 R Swane (Ned)
78D Law, E Saltman, M Quiros (Spn)
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