Park leads in bid to reign in Spain

WELSHMAN David Park, who won on his second European Tour start but has not finished in the top three in 134 events since, holds a one-shot lead after the first round of the Spanish Open.

Park carded a flawless six under par 64 in Fuerteventura to move ahead of compatriot Jamie Donaldson, with England's Roger Chapman and France's a stroke further back in third.

Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez, winner of the Seville Open last Sunday, continued his good form with a 67 but tournament favourite Jose Maria Olazabal could only manage a one over 71.

Park made an amazing start to his European Tour career, leading his first event in the Moroccan Open in 1999, only to lose to Miguel Angel Martin in a play-off.

The following week he went one better by winning the Compaq European Grand Prix and finished 40th in the Order of Merit from just 15 starts, but struggled the following year and had to return to qualifying school to keep his 2001 playing rights.

"It came a bit quicker than I had envisaged so it was a bit of a shock to the system," explained the 29-year-old, who carded a final round 65 in Seville last Sunday to finish joint 10th.

"It was sort of 'where do I go from here?' and it took me a while to figure it out.

"There were a couple of years where I stagnated in all aspects of my game while everyone else improved.

"But I have improved over the last few years and, apart from the first round last week, I have been playing nicely."

Donaldson is seeking his first tour victory and was delighted to card 65 on a course playing much tougher than its 6,638 yards suggests.

The 472-yard second hole, which features a water hazard to the left and out of bounds right, was particularly fearsome, with 50 bogeys, 18 double bogeys and eight triple bogeys or worse, meaning it played to an average of 4.684.

Donaldson said: "In that wind the second is probably one of the hardest holes we will play all year.

"Anything left is in the hazard and anything right is out of bounds so there is no bail-out at all.

"The second shot is just as hard because the hazard is in play all the way down the left, there is no let-up.

"I hit a really good drive and then a good two-iron into the green."

The rest of the course is not up to the usual standards either, and Chapman therefore decided to take a different approach to his preparation, only arriving at 9pm on Wednesday evening.

"I had heard so many 'good' reports about the place that I thought if I come on Tuesday, the head will be off by Thursday morning, so I thought it best to keep it on as long as possible," said Chapman. "That was the plan and it seems to have worked. My caddie walked the course a couple of times so I knew where I was supposed to go."