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| May 25, 2002 | Saturday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 12,1423 |
Montgomerie surges into 3-shot lead
WENTWORTH (England), May 24: Colin Montgomerie shrugged off his painful back injury to fire an eight-under-par 64 and surge into a three-shot lead in the first round of the Volvo PGA Championship Thursday.
The 38-year-old Scot, winner of the event three times and one of the favourites this week, mixed four birdies with two dropped shots at Wentworth’s West Course to reach the turn in 33.
Hitting one club more than usual to accommodate a restricted follow through, he then birdied 10 and 11, chipped in from 35 metres for an eagle-three at the 509-yard 12th and birdied the 13th to get to seven under overall.
After collecting his third bogey of the day at the 15th, he finished his round in style with successive birdies at the closing par-fives - at 17 and at the last.
His 64 was just one stroke off the course record held jointly by Argentina’s Angel Cabrera (last year) and Australia’s Wayne Riley (in 1991).
Montgomerie finished a day of gusting winds three strokes clear of compatriot Andrew Coltart and Zimbabwe’s Mark McNulty, who both birdied the two closing holes on their way to matching rounds of 67.
They were later joined at five under by Denmark’s Steen Tinning and Argentina’s Eduardo Romero.
New Zealand’s Michael Campbell, playing with Montgomerie, also birdied the final two holes to card a round of 68, along with a group of 11 others including defending champion Andrew Oldcorn, Australians Stephen Leaney and Lucas Parsons, Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal, Englishman David Gilford and Northern Ireland’s Ronan Rafferty.
Leaney aced the 184-yard 10th, holing out with a five iron.
Montgomerie, who became the first player to win the event three years in a row with his hat-trick of triumphs from 1998-2000, kickstarted his round with a miraculous second shot at the par-four first to salvage his par.
He pulled his tee shot left of the fairway behind a tree in the semi-rough but, from there, hooked a superb five wood round the tree to within 15 feet of the pin and a comfortable two-putt earned him his par.
On Wednesday, the Scot was forced to miss a mandatory players’ meeting and a scheduled media conference on the eve of the tournament because of his problem back.
The seven times European number one came close to pulling out of last week’s Deutsche Bank Open and was unable to sleep the night before Monday’s final round.
But Montgomerie, who began the last day one stroke ahead of Tiger Woods, battled bravely before losing the title to the American at the third extra hole of a dramatic playoff.
64 Colin Montgomerie
67 Andrew Coltart, Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe), Steen Tinning (Denmark), Eduardo Romero (Argentina)
68 Tom Gillis (U.S.), Michael Campbell (New Zealand), Lucas Parsons (Australia), Diego Borrego (Spain), Stephen Leaney (Australia), Robert Karlsson (Sweden), Andrew Oldcorn, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain), Greg Turner (New Zealand), David Gilford, Anders Hansen (Denmark), Gary Evans, Ronan Rafferty, David Russell
69 Ignacio Garrrido (Spain), Trevor Immelman (South Africa), Adam Scott (Australia), Peter O’Malley (Australia), Jarmo Sandelin (Sweden), Gary Clark, Mark Foster, Mark Davis, Jean-Francois Remesy (France), Rolf Muntz (Netherlands), Carlos Rodiles (Spain)
70 Desvonde Botes (South Africa), Lee Westwood, Miguel Angel Martin (Spain), Sebastien Delagrange (France), Peter Baker, Colin Gillies, Gordon Brand Jnr, Angel Cabrera (Argentina), Darren Clarke, Stephen Scahill (New Zealand), Mark Mouland.
Cink takes lead
DUBLIN (Ohio): American Stewart Cink shot a bogey-free six-under-par 66 to take the early clubhouse lead in the opening round of the US PGA’s Memorial Tournament on Thursday.
Cink, who finished fourth in this event last year, leads by a solitary shot from Australia’s Stuart Appleby and by three from a group including Fiji’s Vijay Singh and American Justin Leonard.
World number one Tiger Woods, looking to win this event for a record fourth consecutive year, went out in one-under 35 and was on the back nine.
Cink opened his round with a pair of birdies and reached the turn in 33. He then birdied three of the four holes between the 12th to the 15th.
Memorial Tournament first round scores
65 Bob Tway
66 Stewart Cink
67 Stuart Appleby (Australia)
68 Tom Lehman, Tom Pernice Jr
69 Jeff Sluman, Frank Lickliter II, Vijay Singh (Fiji), Justin Leonard, David Peoples
70 Olin Browne, Harrison Frazar, Jose Coceres (Argentina), David Gossett, Rocco Mediate, Ernie Els (South Africa), Charles Howell III, Robert Allenby (Australia)
71 KJ Choi (South Korea), Jack Nicklaus, Len Mattiace, Jim Furyk, Billy Mayfair, Jerry Kelly, David Frost (South Africa), Brett Quigley, Brad Faxon.—Reuters
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