Lawrie 64 Claims Verdura Record

Peter Lawrie carded a course-record 64 to claim the lead after the first round of the Sicilian Open.

Lawrie recorded nine birdies and just one bogey at Verdura Golf and Spa Resort to finish eight under par, one ahead of Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen, Welshman Jamie Donaldson and Argentina's Tano Goya.

The 38-year-old Dubliner missed the cut in last week's Hassan Trophy after rounds of 69 and 76, but bounced back in style as he looks to add to his sole European Tour title at the Spanish Open in 2008.

"I'm delighted after last week," Lawrie told Sky Sports. "I got it to four or five under and unfortunately played 12 holes in five over on Saturday and walked off the golf course devastated.

"But I came here and really practised hard over the last couple of days and I'm delighted that I actually holed a few putts today.

"It's forgiving off the tee here I have to admit, but the design is very good and the ball is running on the fairways so it makes us short hitters have some good chances.

"The closing holes you can make a few birdies but you just have to watch that 18th hole, it's a daunting tee shot. The water is certainly in your mind when you tee off."

Approach

Lawrie saved par from 10 feet on the 18th after finding a greenside bunker with his approach to the 475-yard par four, with his only bogey of the day coming on the 13th.

And asked about his approach for the rest of the tournament, he added: "Just keep on plodding away.

"You can't win a tournament on Thursday as they always say but you can lose it. I'm not going to get ahead of myself.

"I'm out early tomorrow, which is good for me, I'll try to post a number and let everyone shoot at it tomorrow afternoon."

Kjeldsen had earlier set the clubhouse target with a 65 containing an eagle, six birdies and one bogey, while Donaldson - aiming for his first European Tour success at the 249th attempt - matched it with a flawless effort featuring five birdies and an eagle.

The 36-year-old is certainly in low-scoring form after firing three eagles in a closing 61 to finish third in the Hassan Trophy on Sunday.

There were contrasting fortunes for John Daly and Costantino Rocca, with the duo who fought out a play-off for the 1995 Open title paired together here.

The American enjoyed the better day with a one-under round of 71, while Rocca shot a five-over-par 77.

Eighteen-year-old Matteo Manassero, at 61 the highest-ranked player in the field, carded a 72.

Leaderboard

McDowell Suffers Slow Shell Start

Graeme McDowell was left to rue a poor start and finish to an opening round, two under par, 70 in the Shell Houston Open at Redstone Golf Club in Texas. 

In the final event before next week’s US Masters at Augusta National GC, McDowell was looking to build on his excellent form of late.

Having started on the 10th tee he suffered a double bogey at the par four, 12th but demonstrated his mettle with birdies on the 15th and 18th to turn in level par, 36. He continued that momentum with a hat-trick of birdies from the fourth to the six holes to move to three under for the tournament, holing from 16 feet, 11 feet and six feet. 

However the par five eighth, his 17th hole was to prove something of a card wrecker. He hit a relatively short tee shot, and then pushed his second, short right into a bunker. From there he thinned it across the green and into the water on the far side. Having taken a penalty drop, he chipped to six and a half feet, holing well to drop just the one shot. 

On his final hole, the 209 yard, par three, ninth, he found the middle of the green with his tee shot, 34 feet from the pin. His first putt finished about two and a half feet short of the cup and he tidied up to complete his round with possibly, mixed feelings. 

He trailed the early leader Carl Pettersson, who was seven under with one hole to play. 

Three Kenyan Musketeers

David Higgins, Niall Kearney and Cian McNamara are the three entries in the European Challenge Tour Barclays Kenya Open which starts on Thursday on the outskirts of Nairobi at the Muthaiga Golf Club.

They join a number of players chasing the dream on the European Tour, none more so than South African Michiel Bothma, who will be taking inspiration from his cousin Branden Grace.

Bothma claimed the title at Muthaiga Golf Club on the outskirts of Nairobi 12 months ago, edging out his younger cousin into tied third place, but it was Grace who went on to secure promotion to The European Tour at the end of the season – via the Qualifying School – and has taken it by storm, winning back-to-back titles in January.

A tied third place finish at the Joburg Open, the scene of 23 year old Grace’s first victory, gave Bothma a fine start to the year, so he returns to Kenya for his first Challenge Tour appearance of 2012 armed with confidence as well as great memories.

“I was ecstatic that week,” said the 39 year old, who finished 45th in the 2011 Challenge Tour Rankings. “It was a nice win. Kenya almost feels like home to me. I have friends there and there are normally a lot of South Africans, so it felt very comfortable.

“You never know when your first win on any tour will come, and leading up to the event I really started playing well. I also worked very hard prior to it. Instead of taking a break, I didn’t stop from the year before.

“After the second day I really felt like I was hitting it well and I was going to win. It just felt like it was going to happen. After that week I thought it would be a great year, but it just didn’t happen.

“I’m thrilled for Branden. I’ve been telling him for almost a year that he’s way better than the Challenge Tour. He hits it better than most guys I see on The European Tour. I’m definitely expecting much bigger things from him in years to come.

“I’d love to join him on The European Tour next year. I feel I’ve got a good enough game to be there. For some people it happens later in life, and for others it happens early, so I’m going to keep plugging away and hopefully my day will come. If you push too hard, sometimes it doesn’t happen, so I just need to relax and enjoy it. As long as you work hard on it, the wheel will turn.”

Bothma believes his game is ideally suited to the par-71, 7,236-yards course at Muthaiga Golf Club, adding: “I like hitting wedges to greens, and the greens are pretty receptive. It’s a putting course. It’s not easy making putts, but somehow I just read the greens very well.

“I think that’s why it suits me because once you read the greens and make a lot of putts, the ball-striking doesn’t have to be all that great to make a good score. I see a lot of people struggling on the greens and not making putts, but they come easily to me.”

The Barclays Kenya Open is the third tournament – and third continent visited – of the 2012 Challenge Tour season, following the Gujurat Kensville Challenge in India and the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Classic.

The year’s first two champions, Germany’s Maximilian Kieffer and Englishman Phil Archer, will be in the field to contest the €190,000 prize fund, as will Chris Lloyd, who finished in the top ten in both events.

England’s Nick Dougherty will hope to continue his renaissance after finishing tied fourth on his Challenge Tour debut in Colombia, while Danish duo Morten Ørum Madsen and Andreas Hartø, who are fourth and fifth respectively in the Rankings, will be looking to build on their fine starts to the campaign.

Sicilian Open Pairs Daly and Rocca

At the Sicilian Open this week the Irish interest includes Gary Murphy, Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin, Paul McGinley and Simon Thornton. 

For McGinley it should prove a better opportunity than last week in Agadir, where after jet lag and lack of sleep - following his appearance at the Tavistock Cup in lake Nona - forced his retirement.

But another interest for the first two days is the pairing of John Daly and Costantino Rocca, seventeen years after their epic battle at The Open Championship at St Andrews.

Rocca is now 55 and plays nearly all his golf on the Seniors Tour, but 45-year-old Daly is still striving to get back into the big time. No longer a full member of the PGA Tour, he has been travelling the world to try to do it.

After the promise of fourth place at the Qatar Masters early last month, the American then injured his elbow in India.

He was 51st on his return to action at the Transitions Championship in Florida two weeks ago, but last Friday missed the halfway cut at the Hassan Trophy in Morocco. “Seems like yesterday,” he said of his clash with Rocca at St Andrews in 1995.

Rocca made a dramatic 60ft par putt from the Valley of Sin to force the play-off, but Daly won it to add the Claret Jug to his 1991 USPGA Championship victory.

He should have happy memories as well of the last time he and Rocca were at the same tournament. That was the 2009 Italian Open in Turin, and Daly finished joint runner-up behind Argentina’s Daniel Vancsik.

Highest-ranked player in this week’s field is 18-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero, who despite finishes of second and sixth in the past fortnight could not force his way back into the world’s top 50 in time for next week’s Masters.

“I’ve played great in my last two tournaments so the confidence is there and I am really looking forward to Sicily now,” he told the European Tour’s website.

“The Masters would have been an amazing bonus if I had won last week, but I have a great chance to win this week, and that would be a great achievement. I think everybody would love to win in their home country.”

France’s Raphael Jacquelin won at Donnafugata last year, but the tournament switches to the Verdura Golf and Spa Resort.

There is one player in the field who is Augusta-bound, but Thomas Levet is going there to commentate for French television again rather than play. He partners Daly and Rocca and has something in common with them. He was in a play-off for the Open at Muirfield 10 years ago, but lost at the fifth extra hole to Ernie Els.

Welshman Jamie Donaldson, meanwhile, will hope his three-eagle 61 on Sunday is a sign of things to come. This is his 249th Tour start and he has yet to win. England’s 51-year-old Barry Lane plays his 681st event, only 25 fewer than record holder Sam Torrance.