McGinley rediscovers old form in good day for the Irish

IRELAND’S Paul McGinley and Scotland’s Gary Orr took advantage of calm early conditions to share the first round lead at the KLM Open in the Netherlands yesterday.

Both fired six-under-par 64s to be one ahead of a group which includes defending champion Darren Clarke and McGinley’s fellow Dubliner Peter Lawrie. Shane Lowry returned a 66 and with Damian McGrane and Gareth Maybin shooting 67s, it was good day for the Irish.

Among those to suffer in the strong afternoon wind, however, was Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie. Without a top 10 finish for almost 14 months, Montgomerie crashed to a six-over-par 76 that left him near the rear of a field, which does not contain a single member of the world’s top 50.

Six of those strokes came on Kennemer’s 562-yard seventh, but that was almost a triumph compared to what happened to Dutch amateur Willem Vork and France’s Anthony Snobeck. They took 13 and 10 respectively.

While the eight-time European number one faces the near-certainty of a third successive missed cut, McGinley, himself captain of the Britain and Ireland side in next month’s Vivendi Trophy, has high hopes of re-igniting his career.

The 42-year-old has also fallen outside the world’s top 200 and is a lowly 130th on this year’s money list.

“The season’s been flat,” said McGinley, runner-up to Clarke on the same course 12 months ago. “I’ve not played well enough – no excuses.”

His day promised to be even better when he stood seven under and three clear after 12 holes, having already made five birdies and a 20-foot eagle putt. But the 2005 Volvo Masters champion – that was his last victory – bogeyed the short eighth, his 17th, and Orr caught him by also playing the back nine in 30.

Orr, now 42 as well, has to go back to 2000 for his last success and has not had things easy since then. Orr lost his Tour card five years ago, then suffered recurring back problems and had to fight for his future again at the start of last season.

Finishing joint second in the European Open in May brought him back to the fore. At 129th in the world he is now Scotland’s highest-ranked player, nearly 100 places ahead of Monty.

Clarke grabbed seven birdies and felt he would have been out in front but for “a couple of stupid schoolboy errors”. The first plugged in a bunker and the second led to him taking a penalty drop away from a bush.

Lawrie came back from an opening bogey for a matching 65 and Australian Matthew Millar and Spain’s Jorge Campillo then joined them.

Double Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, suffering from more rheumatic pains, was two under with one to go, but double-bogeyed the 418-yard ninth just like Montgomerie.

Play was suspended for an hour late in the day because of a storm and on the resumption Scot Callum Macaulay came in with a 66 to be only two behind.