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Jonzon and Mattiace share lead

DUNHILL CHAMPIONSHIP : Len Mattiace and Michael Jonzon shared the lead on seven under after the opening round of the Alfred …

Fri Dec 12 2008 - 00:00

DUNHILL CHAMPIONSHIP: Len Mattiace and Michael Jonzon shared the lead on seven under after the opening round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The pair shot 65s to lead by one from Lee Westwood, Robert Rock, Rafael Cabrera Bello and Johan Edfors - with three players on five under and 14, including 2004 champion Charl Schwartzel, three off the pace.

Swede Jonzon was especially impressive at the Leopard Creek Golf Club, with two birdies and an eagle in his opening four holes giving him a flying start.

Another birdie on the par-four sixth helped him complete the front nine in 30 - the lowest of the day - and he consolidated that performance with a 35 on the back nine to complete a bogey-free round.

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FIRST-ROUND SCORES: 65 - L Mattiace (US), M Jonzon (Swe) 66 - R Rock, R Cabrera Bello (Spa), L Westwood, J Edfors (Swe) 67 - JE Morgan, A Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 68 - N Cheetham, A Velasco (Spa), T Mordt (Rsa), C Schwartzel (Rsa), G Mulroy (Rsa), A McLean, P Edberg (Swe), D Lynn, S Benson, M Cayeux (Zim), G Lockerbie, W Abery (Rsa), B Wiesberger (Aut), R Sterne (Rsa). Irish - 70 Jonathan Caldwell, Michael Hoey, 71 - Damien McGrane, Rory McIlroy, 72 - Gareth Maybin, 76 - Gary Murphy.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Three players hold a two-shot lead at the end of an eventful opening day at Royal Sydney after carding course-record equalling seven-under-par 65s in benign conditions.

Mathew Goggin, Stephen Dartnall and Ewan Porter set the pace on day one of the 2008 Australian Open by equalling John Senden's previous best round set in 2006.

Fresh from his runner-up finish at last week's Australian PGA Championship, Goggin hit the ground running with six birdies on the front nine to set up his round, while Dartnall - who fired a 62 in Monday's qualifying to earn his start - managed six birdies and an eagle.

Porter birdied his final two holes to be the last man in at minus seven on a low-scoring day.

New Zealand duo Mark Brown and David Smail, who led for much of the day after firing early five-under 67s, are joined by Australian Masters winner Rod Pampling two shots off the pace.

Darren Clarke also showed tremendous powers of recovery on his way to an opening 72 after racking up a disastrous triple bogey on his second hole of the day, the par-four 11th, in halves of 38 and 34.

FIRST-ROUND SCORES: 65 - M Goggin, E Porter, S Dartnell 67 - R Pampling, D Smail (Nzl), M Brown (USA) 68 - D Lee (Nzl), T Kennedy 69 - C Scott, A Bonhomme, J Senden, A Stolz, A Summers, H Reed, P Lonard 70 - C Gaunt, T Wood, B McCullough, B Jones, W Perske, T Pilkadaris, K Webber (USA), S Bouvier, R Blizard, G Paddison (Nzl), R Kulacz, A Brown, S Conran, P Fowler, T Clark (Rsa). Irish: 72 - Darren Clarke.

CAMBODIAN OPEN: Rhys Davies shook off the disappointment of his play-off loss in Vietnam last week to take a one-shot lead after yesterday's opening round of the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open.

The 23-year-old carded an eight-under-par 64 at the Phokeethra Country Club in Siem Reap.

He made nine birdies and just a single bogey to be a shot ahead of American Anthony King in the Asian Tour event.

King, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour, had eight birdies and a single bogey to lie alone in second place - one stroke ahead of Indonesia's Rory Hidayat.

Thailand's Chawalit Plaphol is alone in fourth place on 67. Compatriots Jaidee and Thaworn Wiratchant are tied for fifth with Australia's Gavin Flint, Malaysia's Airil Rizman and Korea's Park Jae-bum a further shot back.

FIRST-ROUND SCORES (Par: 72) 64 - R Davies (Wal) 65 - A Kang (USA) 66 - R Hidayat (Ina) 67 - C Plaphol (Tha) 68 - T Wiratchant (Tha), T Jaidee (Tha), G Flint (Aus), A Rizman (USA), JB Park (Kor) 69 - J King (Aus), T Srirot (Tha), R Moir (Aus), P Meesawat (Tha), C Tse-Peng (Tai), C Phadungsil (Tha), C Harris (USA), A Lascuna (Phi).

DUBAI LADIES MASTERS: England's Johanna Head has taken the early lead at the Dubai Ladies Masters after carding a six-under-par 66 on the opening day at the Emirates Golf Club.

Head had six birdies in the round to finish two shots clear of Germany's Anja Monke.

Sweden's Maria Boden, Germany's Katharina Schallenberg and Italian Veronica Zorzi are all one shot further back. Sweden's Annika Sorenstram, competing in her final tournament, is on two under for a share of sixth place.

Head had four birdies in the opening 10 holes and then finished with two more on the 16th and 18th.

Ireland's Martina Gillen opened with a one-under-par 71 while compatriots Hazel Kavanagh shot 72 and Rebecca Coakley 75.

FIRST-ROUND SCORES (British unless stated, par 72): 66 - J Head 68 - A Monke (Ger) 69 - V Zorzi (Ita), K Schallenberg (Ger), M Boden (Swe) 70 - F Johnson, A Sorenstam (Swe), N Reis (Swe), E Cabrera Bello (Spa), V Lagoutte-Clement (Fra), I Tinning (Den), A Simon (Rsa), S Giquel (Fra), L Davies, T Johnson (USA), C Alonso (Spa) Irish: 71 - Martina Gillen 72 - Hazel Kavangh, 75 - Rebecca Coakley.