GOLF/European tour Madrid Open: Ian Woosnam was walking with a real spring in his step in Spain yesterday - and not just because he had put himself in the hunt for the Madrid Open and a first tour title for eight years with a 65.
The 47-year-old Ryder Cup captain, a lowly 100th on the European Order of Merit this season, was also thrilled by the start made by playing partner Colin Montgomerie - round in 66 himself - in the race for places in his team.
He knows Montgomerie, winner of the Dunhill Links championship two weeks ago and third behind Tiger Woods and John Daly in the Amex world championship on Sunday, is someone the Americans have a terrible record against and do not like facing. "Good," said Woosnam. "Let's get another 11 of them."
On a day of spectacular scoring - Spaniard Ivo Giner charged from four over par to seven under with a 60 - Woosnam reached halfway on eight under, while Montgomerie safely avoided the cut by improving seven strokes on his opening 73 to stand four under.
The lead, though, is held at 14 under by France's Raphael Jacqueline. Yet to win on tour - he has had four second places including runner -up spot in the Indonesian Open earlier this year - the 31-year-old repeated his first day 64 and is three ahead of Darren Clarke and England's Gary Emerson.
Clarke, obviously another man Woosnam wants in his line-up at the K Club in Straffan next September, was not even planning to play the event two weeks ago, but dropped two tournaments in America because of his wife Heather's cancer fight.
Family will continue to come first for Clarke next year - even if it means missing the first Ryder Cup in Ireland. He can leap up the Ryder Cup qualifying table by taking his first title of the year on Sunday, but said: "I'm not thinking about that at all. I don't know what's going to be happening in two weeks' time, whether I'm going to be playing golf or not playing golf.
"If the Ryder Cup happens it happens, but if Heather was still ill or up and down I might have to withdraw.
"I would only want to be playing if I was going to be of benefit to the team, not if my mind was not there."
Clarke has already had to take two month-long breaks from the game this season and has played one of the first six qualifying events for Woosnam's team.
As for Seve Ballesteros, playing his first event for almost two years, he avoided last place only with a last-green birdie for eight over, but did at least improve four shots on his initial 77.
He does not plan to play again this season but is looking at tournaments in Asia early next year to continue his comeback.
Amazingly, just six weeks into the Ryder Cup race, Montgomerie has already notched more points than he did in his entire 2004 campaign and is nearly up to the totals which qualified David Howell, Paul McGinley and Ian Poulter. Last year Monty needed a wild card from Bernhard Langer to make the team.
"I said to him on Wednesday that I had watched him and I've never seen him that relaxed," stated Woosnam. "I told him to keep it up and accept the bad stuff with the good stuff. He's swinging well and if he gets some more points he's in. That takes the pressure off me."
The 42-year-old Scot's immediate target is to take another step a record eighth European Order of Merit crown.
He is now €131,400 clear of Michael Campbell and €141,800 in front of Retief Goosen, the only other player who can catch him. Neither of them is in Madrid, but there is not enough money on offer for Montgomerie to clinch top spot before the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama in two weeks' time.
"Every euro and every point is very important for Ryder Cup and Order of Merit," he said. "Having reached number one I didn't want to start faffing about."
Woosnam has missed the cut in seven of his last nine starts and admitted: "I'd lost interest a bit.
"I've so much going on with Ryder Cup and building stuff at home (he has houses in Jersey and Barbados), but hopefully this will give me a gee-up."
He started his round with four birdies in five holes and finished with three in a row.
But even that could not match Giner, who covered the front nine in a dazzling 28 with an eagle and six birdies. He needed to birdie the final two holes for a 59 but only managed to pick up one extra shot.
The 60 he recorded however does not equal the European Tour record because placing is allowed on the wet fairways at the Club de Campo.
Jacquelin needed to close with a birdie for a 62 but instead bogeyed it. He had earlier had nine birdies and said: "I don't know whether this is my week, but this is the best way to start.
"I'm rolling the ball well on the greens, which are difficult, and holing a lot of putts, so I have to think I can win if I keep doing this," said Jacquelin.
Ballesteros had to take consolation from a crowd-pleasing birdie finish as he tacked a 73 to his opening 77 to finish eight-over, in penultimate position for the tournament.
The five-time major champion and six-time European number one, making a return after two years away, said:
"It was difficult to come back and I was surprised how tense I felt on the first day but today I was more relaxed.
"This is only the start. It may take six or seven tournaments, though, maybe more, before I can get back to being ready to compete properly.
"I will not be playing for the rest of this year but next year I will maybe play Singapore or Malaysia early in the year."
Following his disappointing opening round, Montgomerie appeared to be in danger of missing the cut after slipping to two-over with an opening bogey but he showed his determination by fighting back to finish 10 shots off the pace.
Ireland's Damien McGrane remains very much in the hunt following a 66 and 134 total which puts him inside the top ten. Gary Murphy shot a 69 and his total of 139 sufficed to make the cut.
at Club de Campo, Madrid, Spain
(Irish and Brit unless
stated, par 71):
(x) denotes amateurs
128 - Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 64 64
131 - Gary Emerson 67 64, Darren Clarke 64 67.
132 - Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 66 66.
133 - Stuart Little 67 66, Ian Garbutt 69 64.
134 - Ian Woosnam 69 65, Graeme Storm 66 68, Paul Lawrie 68 66, Damien McGrane 68 66.
135 - Ivo Giner (Spa) 75 60, Mark Roe 63 72, David Park 68 67.
136 - Stephen Gallacher 69 67, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 67 69, Anders Hansen (Den) 67 69, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 66 70, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 64, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 69 67, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 66, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 67 69, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 67 69.
137 - Scott Drummond 70 67, Simon Khan 68 69, Alastair Forsyth 66 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 66, Fernando Roca (Spa) 69 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 68, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 67 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 68, Anthony Wall 68 69, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 69 68, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 68, Brett Rumford (Aus) 66 71, Johan Skold (Swe) 69 68, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 67, Neil Cheetham 70 67, Phillip Archer 70 67, Carlos De Corral (Spa) 71 66, Oliver Wilson 69 68.
138 - David Lynn 69 69, Colin Montgomerie 72 66, Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 69, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 67 71, Stuart Manley 68 70, Andrew Marshall 70 68, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 69 69, Mark Foster 69 69.
139 - Gary Murphy 70 69, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 67, Richard Bland 73 66, Philip Golding 74 65, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 72 67, David Drysdale 72 67, Garry Houston 68 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 63 76, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 65, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 67, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 69, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 69 70.
140 - Soren Kjeldsen 72 68, Steve Webster 72 68, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 70, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 68 72, David Carter 70 70, Johan Axgren (Swe) 70 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 71, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 71 69, Miles Tunnicliff 71 69, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 69 71, Simon Wakefield 73 67, (x) Jorge Mazario (Spa) 69 71.
MISSED THE CUT
141 - Steven O'Hara 72 69, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 73 68, David Griffiths 74 67, BenMason 69 72, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 72 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 71, Simon Dyson 71 70, Andrew Coltart 72 69. 142 - Robert Coles 71 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 73 69, John Bickerton 71 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 71, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 72 70, Jamie Donaldson 75 67, Raul Ballesteros (Spa) 69 73, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 74 68, Matthew King 72 70. 143 - Martin Maritz (Rsa) 75 68, Peter Fowler (Aus) 72 71, Raymond Russell 73 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 72 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 69, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 74 69. 144 - Paul Broadhurst 71 73, Jonathan Lomas 73 71, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 72 72, (x) Pedro Oriol (Spa) 76 68, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 71 73, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 67 77. 145 - Marten Olander (Swe) 75 70, Fredrik Henge (Swe) 74 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 76 69, Richard Finch 74 71, Diego Borrego (Spa) 74 71. 146 - Sandy Lyle 74 72, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 76 70. 147 - Andrew Oldcorn 71 76, Juan Carlos Pinero (Spa) 78 69 148 Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 73 75, Lee Slattery 73 75, Malcolm Mackenzie 72 76. 149 - Juan Vizcaya (Spa) 80 69. 150 - Seve Ballesteros 77 73. 151 - Daniel Gallardo (Spa) 77 74.
