Slattery aiming to find some consolation

GOLF/Players' Championship of Europe:Lee Slattery hopes success at the Deutsche Bank Players' Championship of Europe can soften the blow after his home was flooded.

Slattery's flat in a converted nursing home just 300 yards from Royal Birkdale suffered £45,000 worth of damage in the recent floods, and his brother is currently handling the clean up operation.

Thankfully the 28-year-old Englishman is covered by insurance and could return home comforted by a winner's cheque of €600,000 if he can claim his first European Tour title in Hamburg.

"It flooded a few weeks back so I've had a lot on my plate but luckily I moved in with my brother and he's dealing with everything," said Slattery, after a first-round 66 gave him a share of second place alongside compatriot Oliver Wilson, one shot behind leader Simon Khan.

Slattery was tipped for a bright future after winning the Challenge Tour in 2004 but finished 144th on the Order of Merit the following year and 91st last season.

"I won the Challenge Tour by playing just 14 events and played fabulous that year," added Slattery, who carded four birdies and an eagle from just four feet on the third hole in a flawless round.

"But coming off that year you start changing things. You see it all the time with players and God knows why.

"I made the decision five weeks ago to go back to my former coach, Alan Thompson at Heswall, and I feel at the moment I'm playing very similar to that year on the Challenge Tour."

Khan came close to a second European Tour title in the French Open recently, leading at halfway before finishing third, and memories came flooding back of his victory in the Wales Open in 2004 when he was four under for his first three holes yesterday.

"It reminded me of Wales when I shot a 61 in the second round," said the 35-year-old from Essex, who began birdie-birdie-eagle. "It was a great start and when you do something like that you have to try to forget about, just as you'd try to forget a bad start.

"You have to think you're back to level par and stay positive."

A bogey on the fourth no doubt helped in that regard but Khan recovered with four more birdies thanks to working hard on his putting last week instead of watching the Open.

"I was very disappointed to miss out on the Open, I played in the last two and it's the ultimate for me, so I didn't watch much and worked on my putting instead," he added.

"I went back to my old technique with the index finger down the shaft of the putter like Padraig Harrington and it seems to work."

Wilson lost a play-off for the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand earlier this season - his second play-off defeat in Asia - and admits a first tour title is high on the agenda.

"I seem to get off to good starts early in the season, I like the heat out in Asia, but I've got to prepare a little better for the bigger tournaments," said the 26-year-old.

"This is the sixth week in a row so I'm pretty exhausted. Physically I feel okay but mentally I'm not really there. I was fine all the way until Open qualifying (36 holes in one day), but I played well there to qualify and still played the same week in Ireland which was a schoolboy error really."

It was a good day for the English with Zane Scotland among those on five under par and Paul Casey a shot further back after a 68.

Scotland, who shot to fame when he qualified for the Open days before his 17th birthday in 1999, was level par after 10 holes but carded five birdies in the next seven holes.

"I chipped in on the 11th, hit a nice shot into the next and suddenly the hole started looking a lot bigger," said the 25-year-old, 12th in the French Open a few weeks ago.

"I've been playing quite nicely for the last eight or nine weeks, I have the momentum going and things are going my way so I'm just trying to make the most of it."

Best of the Irish was Damien McGrane, who shot a three-under-par 69. Gary Murphy was a shot further back, while Paul McGinley and Peter Lawrie both shot level-par rounds of 72. Graeme McDowell went round in 73.

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