Hoey on Swiss Roll

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Michael Hoey carded an early hole-in-one as he opened his Omega European Masters campaign with a five-under 65 to lie two shots off first-round leader Gregory Havret at Crans Montana in Switzerland.

In a first-round that was delayed due to fog on the mountain-top Crans-sur-Sierre course, Hoey aced the the 191-yard third hole after opening with two pars.

The 36-year-old from Ballymoney in Antrim dropped a shot at the short par-four fifth but a birdie three on the seventh helped him turn in two-under 33.

A second birdie of the day came on the 10th before back-to-back gains on the 14th and 15th moved him to five under. He dropped a second shot on the 16th but finished on a high with a birdie three on the 18th.

Havret also had a hole in one early in his round as he shot to the top of the leaderboard with a 63. After starting with a bogey on the 10th, the Frenchman holed his tee-shot on the 195-yard 13th and followed it up with back-to-back birdie fours on par-five 14th and 15th holes to move to three under.

Six straight pars followed for the three-time European Tour winner before another scoring burst came with back-to-back birdie threes on the fourth and fifth and a second eagle of the day on the short par-four seventh.

Speaking about his hole-in-one, Havret said: “It’s a little bit strange, for a few seconds you don’t know what to do because you can’t believe it.

“Then when you hear everybody shouting and cheering by the green, you know it’s real and you start to go crazy yourself.

“After that happened, you couldn’t take the smile from off my face, because I knew that whatever happened for the rest of the round, I would have a very nice prize waiting for me. So I was very happy, and I play my best golf when I’m happy.”

Havret’s 63 gave him a one-shot lead over Lasse Jensen, the Dane carding six birdies and no bogeys in a 64, while Hoey is among 12 players that ended the day on five under.

Among the group was Danny Willett, who continued where he left off at the British Open, the 27-year-old English golfer including an eagle and five birdies in his round.

Willett’s fellow English golfers Seve Benson, Richard Bland and Tyrell Hatton are also on five under, along with a trio of Swedes in Pelle Edberg, Rikard Karlberg and amateurMarcus Kinhult.

The tournament, which is co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, also saw 65s carded by Australian left-hander Richard Green, the South Korean duo of YE Yang and Seukhyun Baek and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattanond.

Welshman Bradley Dredge was one of six players on four under along with defending champion David Lipsky of America.

American Ryder Cup player Patrick Reed opened with a three-under 67 as sis Swiss amateur Marco Iten, who leads the home challenge.

Lee Westwood, whose 42 career wins include a Crans success in 1999, recovered from a poor start to reach two under with three birdies in his closing five holes.

Another to recover from a poor start was world No 10 Sergio Garcia after he opened double-bogey, bogey before four birdies rescued his day as he signed for a one-under 69.

Peter Lawrie is in a share of 21st position on three under after he carded four birdies and a bogey in his 67.

Damien McGrane finished three over par after a 73 that included six bogeys and a tough task on Friday to secure weekend action.

Perfect Timing for Lowry 65

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Shane Lowry and Gareth Maybin will go into the third round of the Omega European Masters just three shots off the lead after both moved to nine under par on Friday afternoon in the Swiss Alps.

Lowry followed up yesterday’s 66 with a five under effort of 65 at Crans-sur-Sierre, while Maybin kept pace with a round of 67 to remain in the thick of things on a crowded leaderboard.

Former champion Richie Ramsay is still the man to catch as he set an imposing clubhouse target of 12 under, with Jamie Donaldson his nearest challenger just one shot behind.

Ramsay shared the overnight lead with Italy’s Edoardo Molinari after both posted flawless rounds of 62, the Scot admitting he had thought of shooting the first 59 in European Tour history after an eagle and six birdies in 15 holes.

The 31-year-old had to settle for pars on the final three holes but was soon back among the birdies on Friday, picking up shots at the 15th and 16th - having started from the 10th - to be out in 32.

Further birdies on the par-five first, a hole he eagled on Thursday, the fifth and short seventh took 2012 champion Ramsay to 12 under par and two shots ahead of American Brooks Koepka.

Welshman Donaldson, however, reached the turn in 31 after five birdies and came home with a 64 to close the gap to one.

“It was a little bit tougher today,” Ramsay told Sky Sports 4. “I thought some of the pins were trickier on the back side and a little bit of rain made the temperature go up and down which makes clubbing difficult.

“But I stayed steady, had a good attitude again and picked up a few shots coming in which was nice, so all in all a good day’s work.”

Ramsay, who was joint fourth in the Italian Open on Sunday, added: “I have to go with the attitude that I am up there at the top so why not enjoy it? There’s nothing to lose.

“If I do that I will have a really good attitude and just go out there, try to enjoy it and pick off a few birdies.”

Donaldson’s Ryder Cup team-mate player Victor Dubuisson was four shots off the pace after recovering from a double bogey on the 12th, his third hole, to return a 67.

“I’m very, very excited to be part of this amazing team,” Dubuisson said. “It’s been very hard to qualify this year. I had to have two top 10s in the last two majors to be safe (ninth in the Open and seventh in the US PGA).

“I have a good relationship with all the players so I will just have to manage the pressure because it’s my first Ryder Cup and I know it’s not easy to play your game.

“Sometimes you want to play a little more safe and then you lose your natural game.”

Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey is also in the mix on seven under after a 68, but Pádraig Harrington dropped back to three under with a one-over-par 71 and Peter Lawrie just made cut on one under after a 70.

After opening with a 74 on Thursday, Darren Clarke improved by eight shots, showing stunning form to reach the turn in 30 with six birdies, but bogeys at 10 and 15 left him a shot short of the weekend’s action on level par.

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Gareth Maybin Enjoys Swiss Roll

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Gareth Maybin dropped his only shot of the round at the par-three eighth before making his seventh birdie for a six-under 64 at the Omega European Masters on Friday.

Competing for his European Tour card next season, Maybin, 124th in The Race to Dubai, said: “I played really solid golf all day – as well as I’ve played in a very long time.

“I posted some decent scores in recent weeks without playing all that well, but today was a different story. I hit the ball very well and got my just rewards, so I’m, happy.”

Richie Ramsay built on a blistering start to the Omega European Masters to lead in the first round but was caught late on by Edoardo Molinari at the stunning Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.

Ramsay, twice a winner on the European Tour including the 2012 Omega European Masters, eagled the first and birdied the next two holes to get going.

The Scot, 75th on The Race to Dubai, then made gains on the seventh, 12th, 13th and 15th in a trouble free round of 62 to sit eight under par.

taly’s Molinari, also with two European Tour wins to his name, likewise enjoyed a flawless round, picking up eight gains to match Ramsay’s score.

Ramsay said: “Four under through three holes was a nice way to start. I hit a great six iron into the first and then two more good iron shots into the next two, so I was flying at that point. It gave me a great boost and I managed to pick off a few more birdies after that.”

Asked if a round of 59 crossed his mind, Ramsay replied: “On the 16th, I thought that if I could make my birdie putt I’d have a good chance, because the last two holes are decent chances for birdie. But once I missed the putt, I obviously knew the game was up.” 

Molinari, who missed this tournament for the last two years through injury and is now 30th in The Race to Dubai, said: “I hit the ball very well from the tee, which wasn’t the case last week. And I’ve been hitting my irons very well lately, so I know that when I find the fairways, I’m probably going to give myself a good chance to get close to the pin.”

Asked which was his best birdie, Molinaro explained: “The one on the fourth hole, for sure. It’s a very tough par four, so to birdie it was very pleasing and almost felt like I’d made two shots on the field. I hit a great iron to 15 feet and made the putt, so that definitely stands out in my mind.”

Ramsay and Molinari were two shots ahead of Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood and Graeme Storm plus Maybin, who all made 64s in the first half of the day.

Wales’ Jamie Donaldson, seeking consecutive European Tour triumphs, went round in 65 to be in a group of seven on five under.

Defending champion Thomas Björn of Denmark was among a large group one shot further back.

Björn predicted that the afternoon players would set the bar higher than the morning ones, a prophecy that only Ramsay and Molinari fulfilled.

Björn said: “It was ideal this morning, although it was a bit cold early on. Usually that would mean the ball doesn’t go as far, but with the altitude that cancelled one another out.

“There was hardly any wind out there today, so the course was definitely there for the taking. I won’t be anywhere near the top of the leaderboard by the end of the day, but it’s still a reasonable enough start.”

Fleetwood, whose sole European Tour victory came in the 2013 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, eagled the first but double bogeyed the fourth while otherwise carding seven birdies and a bogey.

He said: “It’s obviously never nice to start with a three-putt, then I holed a good par putt on the 11th, so I could’ve been two over after two.

“But the birdie on 15 got me going, and from there on in I played really well and felt good about my game.

“I shot five under on my back nine, which is the front nine, and didn’t really have to hole any putts of note.

“When you’re playing that well you just want to make the most of it, and luckily I managed to do that today.”

Donaldson, who won the D+D REAL Czech Masters in his previous appearance before enjoying last week off, had an eagle at the 15th as the highlight of his round.

He said: “It’s a tough flag on the back right, and I actually pulled my second shot slightly. But if you’re going to miss, you have to miss on the left side.

“So it was a good miss if you like, and I left myself with a fairly straightforward chip which I managed to hole, so that was a bit of a bonus.”

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Swiss Rolf for Three Irish

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Padraig Harrington fired a second round 65 at the Omega European Masters on Friday and moved to seven under and within three shots of the leaders. 

Harrington carded eight birdies and two bogeys in his round to put himself in a share of 13th position going into the weekend at Crans-sur-Sierre.

Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn shared the halfway lead .

Gallacher recorded seven birdies in his second round of 65 but a bogey at the 394-yard 18th meant he surrendered the outright position at the top of the leaderboard.

Bjorn, the 2011 champion at Crans-sur-Sierre, also came unstuck at the last and had to settle for six birdies in his 66, which was good enough to lift him to 10 under.

The pair led the chasing group of Englishmen Danny Willett, Richard Finch and Tommy Fleetwood, France’s Victor Dubuisson and 2010 winner Miguel Angel Jimenez by one stroke.

A further shot back were the likes of first-round leader Anirban Lahiri, who managed only a level-par 71, and Paul Casey, with a 69.

Gallacher has been struggling recently with a back injury and will take some time off after this week but it did not hamper him too much in the Swiss mountains.

“That was a solid round again today,” he said. “I hit the ball really well on the front nine and got my just rewards for the putts and I’m still in there for tomorrow.

“My back has been a bit sore but I’ve had a lot of physio and it has settled right down. I am having a break after this week to get it properly right.”

Bjorn credited a break of a different kind for putting him in contention.

“I’ve been struggling technically and there have been some big changes this week because I found myself very poor technically over the last few weeks,” said the Dane.

“I’ve gone back to doing it myself and sometimes that’s the best way.

Experience always seems to come through on this course and that’s what I’m hoping for at the weekend. But you can’t get carried away on this golf course or you will run up big numbers.”

Having been through a serious slump – dropping to 169th in the world rankings after a snowboarding accident – Casey has re-emerged as a force on tour this season and having broken back into the world’s top 100 he has his sights set on making the top 50 to ensure his entry to next year’s majors.

“Winning is the biggest goal, getting back in the top 50 is the other biggest–- everything else takes care of itself,” he said.

“There are lots of other goals but it is about continuing to keep playing solidly and give myself opportunities to win tournaments and try to close them out.

“You have to have a lot of patience and creativity this week. If you are not willing to risk something you are probably not going to get it close.

“You don’t need to do a lot wrong to struggle round this place but I’m still happy to shoot two under par as it still keeps me in the mix.”

Gareth Maybin shot a one-under 69 to make the cut on three under, with Michael Hoey a shot further back on two under.

Simon Thornton, Darren Clarke, Damien McGrane and and Peter Lawrie all missed the cut.

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Harrington Hoping for More 66's

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Padraig Harrington is relishing the atmosphere at Crans-sur-Sierre as the Dubliner returns to Switzerland for the first time in 13 years to tee up in this week’s Omega European Masters.

The Irishman last played this event back in 2000, but is clearly enjoying his return to the stunning mountain venue. Although not always a fan of the mountain course opened his account in the Pro-am on Wednesday with a round of 66.

“Clearly it is right up there as the most beautiful venue we play tournament golf at around the world,” Harrington said. “It is a beautiful place, let alone the golf course. Secondly, it always has a great atmosphere here. 

“The course is in the centre of the town and everyone seems to be into their golf here. You walk around the town and there are three caddie carts outside the pub because they haven’t made it home. It reminds you of home because a lot of links courses at home are like that and the clubhouse is nearly in the town and everyone, even if they don’t play, are involved. 

“Here you can’t go ten yards without seeing a poster for the event. Every shop window has clubs and balls in it. It really is a nice atmosphere. I’m staying in a golf hotel and it is stunning, with stunning views. There is a putting course in front of us and I am going to have a game against my caddie - the big match of the week! It really looks difficult too; there is a volcano hole and I don’t know how you play it!”

While the three-time Major Champion is enjoying matters off the course this week, Harrington knows there is plenty of work to be done on it after five years without a European Tour title.

And the 42 year old feels he has a good idea of what is required if he is to end that run.

“Two six unders and two two unders would be pretty close,” he added. “It’s really hard. There are some short holes, but there is a lot of difficultly around the greens. 

“The condition of the course is immaculate and there is a substantial difference in the quality and condition of the course from back when I played it.” 

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