GOLF/ Algarve Open de Portugal: On what was overall a superb day for the Irish contenders, Peter Lawrie led the charge by firing a six-under-par 66 to grab the outright lead after the first round of the Algarve Open de Portugal.
The 30-year-old Dubliner, last year's European Tour rookie of the year, collected seven birdies to go with a lone bogey at the ninth over the Penina course for a one-shot lead over a crowd of seven players on five-under.
And former Ryder Cup hero Philip Walton showed a most welcome return to form by carding a four-under 68 to lie in joint ninth.
Gary Murphy and Graeme McDowell handed in 68s, while Damien McGrane was just a shot further back on two-under.
Paul McGinley was the only Irish player to struggle slightly, as he could manage only two birdies to go with three bogeys, and, at tied 91st, will need to improve today to make it into the weekend.
Lawrie now has his sights set on a first win.
"That's the one thing that's missing, putting four rounds together," he said. "I've been up with the leaders after two or three rounds this year but not finished it off."
But one of those seven players in joint second behind Lawrie, Englishman Andrew Raitt, is set to quit golf at the end of the season even if he wins in Portugal.
The €208,300 first prize would not even "touch the surface" of his financial problems after the ruinous expense of legal action against the owner of the dog which bit off part of his little finger in 1995.
Raitt was walking his dog at his home club in Surrey when it was attacked by an Alsatian. When he tried to separate the dogs, the Alsatian bit the tip of his left little finger, leaving it shorter by half a centimetre and lacking in sensation.
The 34-year-old told a high court judge it forced him to change his grip and his play had suffered as a result, but the judge said he was "not persuaded that there has been anything other than an imperceptible movement of his grip" and that this "has had no impact on his ability as a player".
Raitt was therefore awarded less than €10,000 damages in December 2002 - less than he had been offered out of court - and after an unsuccessful appeal last year has been left with a legal bill approaching €500,000.
"They already accepted it was their dog, it was their fault, it was a question of does it affect your golf," said Raitt, who is resigned to losing his house and car as he tries to foot the bill.
"They tried for seven years to find a golf pro to say that it didn't and in the end they found someone - former European Open winner Andrew Murray - who had never met me, never seen my finger, but turned round and said it had no effect at all.
"I'd never met him before we were stood outside the court waiting to go in. I tried to speak to him afterwards but he won't talk to me. He says there are only two things that can happen - either I beat him up or he feels guilty."
Raitt has twice had surgery in Brazil - with a surgeon he met playing in a tournament pro-am- but despite a slight improvement he is in constant pain and the effort of changing his grip and swing to compensate also left him with a shoulder injury which saw him miss nine months of 2001.
"It was affecting my whole physique," added Raitt. "I lost all the muscle down the left side of my back because of the way I gripped it and my shoulder became unstable. I was having regular cortisone injections just to play.
"It's like purgatory. I said to my coach after Madeira last week I never want to pick up a golf club ever again. I just wish it had been another finger, I just wish I hadn't been there.
"The judge said the injury hadn't made a difference to my ability, but I think it takes away the difference between the good players and the bad players.
"I know the difference between playing well and just getting it round and I don't flush the ball like I used to. If it wasn't for my daughter, Georgia, I don't know what I would have done."
Raitt will play whichever European Tour events he can get into this season before almost certainly retiring, and is only here this week because of the late withdrawal of Jamie Donaldson.
Raitt was at a friend's house in England when he received the call-up on Wednesday afternoon and managed to secure the last seat on a flight to Faro.
Arriving on the Algarve at 7.30p.m., he was on the first tee just over 12 hours later and carded six birdies and one bogey on the Henry Cotton-designed course.
"Fortunately I know this course really well," said Raitt, who lost his European Tour card last year. "I came here on a three-week working holiday in 1995.
"We arranged with the director of golf to work in the morning and have use of the facilities in the afternoon, and I got the short straw and ended up cleaning golf balls on the range.
"That was one of the reasons I came here, it was the last place I played before I was bitten by the dog. It's a nostalgic trip in a sense."
Raitt shared second place with Sweden's Christopher Hanell, winner of the Madeira Island Open on Sunday, and Spain's Gabriel Canizares, son of former Ryder Cup player Jose Maria Canizares.
FirstRoundScores
(Irish in bold, British unless stated)
66 (6 under) - Peter Lawrie. 67 (5 under) - Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Andrew Raitt, Christopher Hanell (Swe), Gregory Havret (Fra), Gabriel Canizares (Spa), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Stephen Dodd. 68 (4 under) - Terry Price (Aus), Philip Walton, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Sam Walker, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa), Barry Lane, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Miguel Angel Martin (Spa). 69 (3 under) - Martin Lemesurier, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Gary Murphy, Graeme McDowell, Rolf Muntz (Ned), Kenneth Ferrie, Nobuhito Sato (Jpn), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Gary Emerson, Rob Rashell (USA), Matthew Cort, Shaun Webster. 70 (2 under) - Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Gary Orr, Matthew Blackey, Gustavo Rojas (Arg), Damien McGrane, Nathan Fritz (USA), Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Wayne Westner (Rsa), (x) Tiago Cruz (Por), Mark Roe, Desvonde Botes (Rsa), Julien Clement (Swi), David Park, Chris Gane, Damien McGrane, Raul Ballesteros (Spa). 71 (1 under) - Andrew Oldcorn, Ian Woosnam, Marcel Siem (Ger), Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned), Ian Garbutt, Henrique Paulinho (Por), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), David Dixon, Jamie Spence, Fredrik Andersson (Swe), Raymond Russell, Marc Farry (Fra), Robert Rock, Richard McEvoy, Paul Eales, Peter Baker, Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Andrew Marshall, David Lynn, John Mellor, Klas Eriksson (Swe), Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa), Mikko Ilonen (Fin). 72 (level) - Scott Drummond, Steve Webster, Alastair Forsyth, Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Marten Olander (Swe), Alan McLean, Markus Brier (Aut), Nick Dougherty, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg), Ben Banks, (x) Nuno Campino (Por), Mattias Nilsson (Swe), Richard Bland, Ivo Giner (Spa), Bradley Dredge,Antonio Sobrinho (Por), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), David Gilford, (x) Sam Osborne. 73 (1 over) - Santiago Luna (Spa), Gary Evans, Andrew Coltart, Soren Hansen (Den), Paul McGinley, Stuart Little, Jamie Elson, Jorge Berendt (Arg), James Hepworth, Mattias Eliasson (Swe), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Craig Spence (Aus), Marc Pendaries (Fra), Simon Wakefield, Johan Edfors (Swe), Simon Khan, Fernando Roca (Spa), Roger Chapman, Gordon Brand Jnr. 74 (2 over) - Diego Borrego (Spa), Thomas Levet (Fra), Richard Sterne (Rsa), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Mark Foster, Joao Pedro Carvalhosa (Por), Brad Kennedy (Aus), Iain Pyman, Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Daniel Gaunt (Aus), David Carter. 75 (3 over) - Ben Mason, Wayne Riley (Aus), Cesar Monasterio (Arg), Sergio Ribeiro (Por), Van Phillips, Peter Hanson (Swe), Greg Owen, Paul Broadhurst, Garry Houston, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Warren Bennett, Jeppe Huldahl (Den). 76 (4 over) - Jonathan Lomas, Tom Whitehouse, (x) Julien Foret (Fra), (x) Ricardo Santos (Por), Steven O'Hara, Martin Wiegele (Aut), Anthony Wall, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor), John Bickerton. 77 (5 over) - Francisco Cea (Spa), Sergio Couto (Por), Miles Tunnicliff. 78 (6 over) - Steven Richardson. 79 (7 over) - Juan Vizcaya (Spa), (x) Hugo Santos (Por), Alfredo Cunha (Por). 80 (8 over) - Per Nyman (Swe). 81 (9 over) - Paulo Teixeira (Por), Euan Little. 84 (12 over) - Daniel Silva (Por).
Disq: Wade Ormsby (Aus).
