Lawrie shoots to top

A brilliant round of 64, eight under par, sent Dubliner Peter Lawrie shooting to the top of the leaderboard after yesterday’s opening round of the Sicily Open at the stunningly beautiful Verdura course.

Lawrie, who celebrated his 37th birthday last week, finished just one outside his tournament best, returned in the 2010 European Masters, and is now planning an all-out assault on a second European Tour victory to augment his Spanish Open triumph in 2008.

It was an excellent day for the six-strong Irish contingent as all shot under par. Shane Lowry maintained his recent run of good form to share ninth spot after a five-under 67, Gareth Maybin got round in 68 without ever being at ease with his game while Simon Thornton was understandably pleased with a 69. Paul McGinley, who was decidedly unhappy with his putting having used the blade 34 times, and Gary Murphy went round in 71.

The professionals revelled in the glorious conditions prevailing at this 7,375-yard par-72 layout on the shores of the Mediterranean, with McGinley predicting that he may need to finish three under par today just to make the cut.

Lawrie, however, will only be thinking of taking full advantage of this spectacular start to the tournament when he begins his second round at 8.10 this morning.

He accepts that his campaign “has got off to a bit of a slow start”.

“It was determination and giving myself a kick up the backside that brought about this score,” he said. “Holing a few putts was also crucial.”

Lowry was one of the most relieved people in Sicily when his clubs and gear that went missing in Naples airport on Monday turned up at 1am. He had to retire after 13 holes of Wednesday’s pro-am because his borrowed shoes were too tight a fit but he was a different man once his usual equipment arrived.

“I’ve had a few decent tournaments recently but what missing was a good start and I’ve managed that now and hopefully I can build on it for the rest of the week,” he said. “I’m very confident and that’s why I was so disappointed last night as I thought my clubs were lost. Luckily, I got them back and played super today.

Murphy’s one-under 71 was probably one of the best performances of the day given that it was his first round of golf for six months. The 39-year-old retired after the Portuguese Masters last October and has since built a new career hosting a new Saturday morning golf show, The Cut Line, on Setanta. On Monday morning, however, he received an invitation out of the blue to play in Sicily and jumped at the chance.

“I had just taken my daughter to school when the call came,” said Murphy. “But since I had not played golf since Portugal, I thought I should pop up to Baltray in the evening and hit a few balls.

“To shoot 71 after six months off and only a bag of balls has to be a good effort.”