McIlroy's 67 leaves him five off Rumford

EUROPEAN TOUR: RORY McILROY picked up where he left off 12 months ago by signing for a four-under 67 on the opening day of the €2 million Omega European Masters at Crans-sun-Sierre in the Swiss Alps but he still wasn't the leading Irishman and was five shots off the overnight lead.

The high altitude venue is where McIlroy came close to securing his maiden European Tour win last year only to lose in a play-off to France’s Jean Francois Lucquin.

This time around the Holywood golfer made a blistering start to the event which kick-started the European qualifying for next year’s Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.

The 20-year-old opened with a birdie before quickly moving to three under with an eagle two at the 437-yard par four second, where he holed his approach. He then parred the next seven holes to turn in 33. A further birdie came at 15 and with no dropped shots he was well-placed inside the top 20.

“Ever since last year I have always enjoyed playing this course,” said McIlroy.

“It was a very solid start. No bogeys, a couple of birdies and when you hole your second shot for an eagle that always helps.”

“I like playing with Jeev (Milkha Singh) because he always has great rhythm and you can feed off that. And I’ve played a lot of practice rounds with Lee (Westwood). It was nice to outscore them too,” added McIlroy, whose 67 was one better than Singh and four better than Westwood. “If I can get to eight or 10 under by the end of tomorrow then I will be in pretty good shape going into the weekend.

“I had a few more opportunities out there but to be honest I didn’t play the shorter par fours that well,” added McIlroy, who was upstaged by his elder countryman Paul McGinley.

The 42-year-old mixed seven birdies, including three on the bounce from the 15th, and just two dropped shots in his round of 66.

There is a strong Irish contingent of eight competing in the Swiss Alps and Graeme McDowell also made a solid start with his 68 that contained five birdies and two dropped shots to be one better than Darren Clarke (69).

Gareth Maybin and Gary Murphy both shot 70, one better than Michael Hoey’s level par 71, while Shane Lowry battled for a one-over 72.

The player they all have to catch is Australia’s Brett Rumford, who put a sickening incident out of his mind to take the first-round lead.

Rumford, winner of the title in 2007, hit a lady spectator just above the eye with his opening drive. While she was taken away for treatment with blood streaming down her face, the 32-year-old from Perth, who was told about the incident and anxious to find out about the spectator’s condition, dropped shots on the fourth and fifth holes.

But then came a remarkable turnaround. Rumford played the remaining 13 holes in 11 under par, with an eagle two on the driveable seventh, birdies at the sixth and ninth and then an inward 28 containing seven more birdies.

His 62 would have equalled the Crans-sur-Sierre course record but for the fact that placing of the ball was allowed on the wet fairways. “I got off to a shaky start in more ways than one,” said Rumford, who leads by one from England’s Simon Dyson, winner of the KLM Open in Holland two weeks ago.

“It was not nice. You feel really bad for the lady, but there’s really nothing you can do. I’ve not spoken to her yet and I didn’t even see her at the time. It was her eyebrow I’m told – if it had been her temple a couple of inches away it could have been really bad.”