Olazabal grabs early lead in Spain

Jose Maria Olazabal, chasing the first Spanish Open title of his career, wasted little time moving into the lead when the second round began in Tenerife today.

Top European when he finished eighth at the Masters two weeks ago, Olazabal opened with an eight-under-par 64 on the easy Costa Adeje course yesterday and birdies at two of his first three holes took him ahead of overnight pacesetters Charl Schwartzel and Marten Olander.

Eighteen-year-old South African Schwartzel, attempting to become the youngest-ever winner on the European Tour, was among the later starters, but Swede Olander missed out on birdies at the 539-yard first and 567-yard third.

Olazabal set off again on the back nine and despite a wayward drive at the long 11th it went unpunished like so many others and from just short of the green in two he chipped to four feet and holed.

A pitch to 12 feet at the next took the double Masters champion into double figures, but he knew that in more perfect conditions he could not relax for a moment. A tour record 30 under par was being predicted as a possible winning score on Sunday.

The halfway cut was set to be another record. It presently stands at five under, but if the first day scoring was repeated it would fall at eight under.

That was bad news for Seve Ballesteros, whose opening bogey on the 241-yard 11th dropped him to three under alongside favourite and defending champion Sergio Garcia, another of the later starters.

Ballesteros’ first-day 68 matched his lowest score of the last three trouble-laden years but another could be needed to survive to the last two rounds.

Malaga-based Englishman Miles Tunnicliff did birdie the first and third to join Olazabal on 10 under, while Norfolk’s Andrew Marshall did the same and went alongside Schwartzel and Olander in third place on nine under. Then Surrey’s Paul Casey birdied the 11th to make it a four-way tie.