Campbell off to a flier at the K-Club

From Paul Gallagher at the K-Club

From Paul Gallagher at the K-Club

New Zealander Michael Campbell has made his mark on the Smurfit European Open leaderboard at the K-Club this afternoon.

The Kiwi stormed into a share of the lead on five-under havingcompleted the front nine in just 30 shots. Birdies flowed from theoutset when the 32-year-old went two-under after two holes.

From there he went on to add three more at the fourth, fifth andeighth and shares the lead with Italy’s Massimo Scarpa and Norway’s Henrik Bjornstad.Both hold the clubhouse lead having completed theirrounds.

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Campbell forms part of a three-ball which is really tearing thecourse apart at the moment. The defending champion Lee Westwoodreached the turn in two-under 35 then moved to three-under with abirdie four at the par five 10th.

Meanwhile the third member of the group is none other than thecurrent US Open champion, Retief Goosen, and he too is three-underfor his round thus far.

Padraig Harrington has kept his round steady by reaching the turn inlevel par.Since then the Dubliner went birdie, bogey, birdie at thestart of his back nine and moved to one-under after 12 holes.

Paul McGinley is playing in the group behind Harrington and the K- Club touring professional eventually took advantage of his localknowledge on the back nine.

The 34-year-old had a disappointing outward nine in two-over 37, but soon rectified the situation with three birdies from the 10th hole.The run moved McGinley to one-under after 12 holes.