Ireland’s Damien McGrane rode a hot putter to claim a one-stroke lead after the first round of the US$2.8 million Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea yesterday.
A six-under-par 66 at the Blackstone Golf Club near Seoul could have been even better had it not been for a pair of bogeys, but McGrane was not complaining.
NOT COMPLAINING
“I made plenty of birdies and I putted nicely. I also made two bogeys which came out of nowhere, but that’s golf,” he told reporters after stealing the thunder from world No. 1 Lee Westwood and a host of other big-name players on the first day of the co-sanctioned event.
“I still think there are a lot of birdie chances out there and scoring will be quite low this week,” added McGrane, whose sole European Tour win came at the 2008 China Open.
Britain’s Westwood, newly returned to the top of the world rankings, blotted his scorecard with a double-bogey on his last hole to finish with a 72.
He bogeyed his third last hole after standing up from his tee-shot because of a camera, and worse was to come on the last.
After struggling to get out of a fairway bunker, Westwood snapped at the packed gallery when a camera clicked as he lined up a tricky bogey putt — which he then missed.
“I’m still in contention,” the Englishman said. “On the first 15 holes I played very nicely and gave myself a lot of chances without really making any putts.”
“I hit a lot of good putts, but the greens are very different to what we putt on week in and week out. They are quite slow. You end up bashing them so it’s hard to get the ball rolling in the hole,” Westwood said.
Hot on McGrane’s heels after rounds of 67 were Briton Richard Finch and South Korea’s Park Sang-hyun, the former not dropping a shot all day.
TOUGH COURSE
“It’s a tough golf course and I somehow managed to keep bogeys off the card, which was nice,” Finch said. “This course has a lot of elevation changes and slopes. Even the greens have some huge slopes and ridges in them. I just tried to make it a real key to get it on the fairway and try to get on the correct level with my approach shot.”
Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez carded a 70, along with big-hitting American Dustin Johnson, while European Ryder Cup teammate Ian Poulter of Britain had a 74.
Three-time major winner Ernie Els returned a 73 in the first round of the tournament, which is co-sanctioned by the European, Asian and Korean Tours.
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