GOLF/ANDALUCIAN OPEN:SWEDE JOHAN Edfors boosted his attempt to end a five-year victory drought when he shared the lead with four others after shooting a 65 in the Andalucian Open first round yesterday. Edfors was joined on five-under-par by fellow Swedes Oscar Floren and Rikard Karlberg and Britain's Jamie Elson and Robert Rock.
Of the quintet, only Edfors has won on the European Tour, although not since 2006 when he triumphed three times and was unlucky not to make the Ryder Cup team that beat the United States at the K Club in Ireland.
Apart from Floren, the others had the luck of the draw and played in the morning before a stiff breeze blew at the Parador de Golf course overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
“I had been planning to take this week off because I did not play well in the event last year,” former Scottish Open, British Masters and TCL Classic champion Edfors said. “But then I decided to come and it was a good decision.
“The course is in great shape and the weather during my round was absolutely lovely. I know I have not won for five years but I feel my confidence is starting to come back.”
Floren, who graduated from the second-tier Challenge Tour at the end of 2010, benefited from a change in conditions when the wind dropped again for the last nine holes of his round.
Rock’s 65 was encouraging for the Englishman after he parted with long-time caddie Jamie Lane following a 58th-place finish at last week’s Sicilian Open.
Fellow Englishman Elson is still trying to make up for lost sleep after the event in Sicily carried over until Monday because of bad weather.
“I only got back home to England at 9.30 on Monday night and on Tuesday I had to set my alarm for 3am to get my plane to Malaga,” he said. “But when you play well you do not tend to feel the tiredness.”
Paul McGinley and Gareth Maybin were the best of the Irish contingent yesterday, after shooting 68s, one better than Darren Clarke. Damien McGrane is level par after a 70, and one shot ahead of Michael Hoey, while Shane Lowry will have been disappointed with his opening 75.
European Tour, Open Andalucia de Golf, Parador de Malaga, Malaga, Spain (Bri unless stated, Irish bold, par 70): 65 Jamie Elson, Robert Rock, Rikard Karlberg (Swe), Oscar Floren (Swe), Johan Edfors (Swe) 66 Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Raul Quiros (Spn), Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn), Paul Lawrie, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 67 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Nick Dougherty, David Horsey, Jorge Campillo (Spn), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Jose Manuel Lara (Spn), Anthony Wall, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Keith Horne (Rsa), Tano Goya (Arg), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Mark Foster, Pablo Martin (Spn) 68 Hennie Otto (Rsa), Christian Nilsson (Swe), Mark Tullo (Chi), Gareth Maybin, Phillip Price, Marcel Siem (Ger), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Carl Suneson (Spn), Alvaro Salto (Spn), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Paul McGinley 69 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Steve Lewton, Alvaro Velasco (Spn), Joost Luiten (Ned), Mikko Korhonen (Fin), Scott Jamieson, Pablo Larrazabal (Spn), Anthony Kang (USA), Stephen Dodd, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Bradley Dredge, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Richard McEvoy, Matthew Zions (Aus), Stuart Manley, Rhys Davies, Darren Clarke, George Coetzee (Rsa), James Morrison, Jason Knutzon (USA), Romain Wattel (Fra), Stephen Gallacher, Alexandre Kaleka (Fra) 70 Damien McGrane, Liam Bond, Robert Dinwiddie, Rafael Echenique (Arg), Kenneth Ferrie, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spn), Alexander Noren (Swe), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spn), Manuel Quiros (Spn), Gregory Havret (Fra), Steve Webster, Chris Wood, Colin Montgomerie, Julio Zapata (Arg), Gabriel Canizares (Spn), David Dixon, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Richard Finch, Jamie Donaldson, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Barry Lane 71 John Parry, Robert Coles, Shaun Norris (Rsa), John Bickerton, Simon Dyson, Simon Wakefield, Graeme Storm, Gary Boyd, Lee Slattery, Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Michael Hoey, Martin Wiegele (Aut), Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe), Jesus Maria Arruti (Spn), Daniel Gaunt (Aus), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Carlos Rodiles (Spn), Alvaro Quiros (Spn), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Richard Green (Aus), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 72 Richard Bland, Soren Hansen (Den), Matthew Nixon, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa), Danny Willett, David Lynn, Mark Brown (Nzl), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spn), Matt Haines, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Joakim Haeggman (Swe), George Murray, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spn), Steven O’Hara, Oliver Fisher, Simon Khan, Lloyd Saltman, Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Alejandro Canizares (Spn), Tim Sluiter (Ned) 74 Christian Cevaer (Fra), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Peter Whiteford, Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Oliver Wilson, David Howell, Carlos Del Morral (Spn), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Seve Benson, Joel Sjoholm (Swe), Santiago Luna (Spn), Ignacio Garrido (Spn), Pedro Oriol (Spn) 75 Shane Lowry, Juan antonio Bragulat (Spn), Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 76 Thomas Norret (Den) 77 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 78 Borja Etchart (Spn), Andreas Harto (Den) WD: 76 Floris De Vries (Ned).
