PAUL McGlNLEY swept back to form in Hamburg yesterday with a four under par first round 68 to lead the Irish challenge for the Deutsche Bank Open at the Gut Kaden Club.
Darren Clarke and Philip Walton who are bound for the US Open in a fortnight's time began with 70 and 72 respectively.
But with 86 players bettering par, they are by no means certain of retaining further interest in a £120,000 title which is already destined to be a putting contest. Generous fairways and ample greens that are holding after recent heavy rain, give everyone numerous birdie chances.
New Zealander Frank Nobilo profited most yesterday, shooting a seven under par 65 to take a one stroke lead over a group of seven that included defending champion Bernhard Langer and the gangling Swede Jarmo Sandelin, who won the Madeira Island Open in March.
But European number one Colin Montgomerie could manage only 71, and Ian Woosnam had a poor day with the putter to shoot level par as did new PGA champion Costantino Rocca.
McGinley had the disadvantage of being out late and having to cope with the results of heavy traffic on the soft greens. But he made five birdies after starting at the 10th, twice getting down from 15 feet in his outward 34.
A birdie two at the second, where he struck his four iron to six feet, followed by a two putt birdie four, further improved his position, before three putts from 30 feet on the next green forced him to regroup.
His fifth birdie came at the eighth and with an early start today, he can look forward to atoning for the late lapses at Wentworth which cost him so much.
"I had three bogeys in the last six holes of the last round and it meant I dropped 20 places and lost £11,000," he said. "But this is a dare of ups and downs and you just have to fight back. My putting was good and I hit 17 greens, so my game is pretty solid.
Clarke tried his utmost to get a tepid putter working, but he missed a string of chances from around eight feet and managed only three birdies. He then paid a visit to the professional's shop in search of yet another blade, but decided to persevere with his current club for today.
"I hit all 18 greens, but made nothing really he said. His only birdie of the outward half from the 10th came at the 17th, where he pitched to a foot. After a birdie two at the second from five feet he missed chances on each of the next three greens, then three putted the sixth for his only bogey. Although he got down from eight feet to birdie the seventh, a miss from under three feet and a lip out on the last two greens, left him perplexed.
Walton looked unlikely to match par when he went out in 38 with three putts at the first and eighth, but he holed from 15 feet at the 12th and eight feet at the 15th to get back at level and stayed there. "I did not read the greens well," he said. "If I did get it on line, I left it short."
Des Smyth was just a disconsolate after three triple putts in his 73, but Raymond Burns (71) and Francis Howley and Ronan Rafferty who both had 72, can be optimistic provided they get their putters working today.
Langer discovered his best form with the club by trimming three inches from the rubber grip. "I had it replaced recently, but the new one was too long and it may have made my putter heavier or the shaft stiffer," he said.
The German thought it was the reason he putted poorly in coming to the end of his run of 68 tournaments without missing a cut, when he defended the PGA title at Went worth last week.
Again defending here, where he led from start to finish 12 months ago, he is now favourite to gain his 10th European Tour win in his own country.
After seven birdies and four successive putts from eight feet for par he declared "that was my best putting round for ages.
Mark Roe, who had 68, has withdrawn from the forthcoming US Open in order to concentrated on re establishing himself on the European circuit, where he was 126th last year. "I want to play in the English and BMW Opens," he said and you cannot do that by going to, the US Open in between.
