Bjorn in top gear

Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn recovered from a sluggish start to find top gear in the defence of his BMW International Open title in Munich.

Bjorn opened with eight pars at Nord-Eichenried but then birdied eight of the remaining 10 holes to race home in just 29 shots.

That gave the Dane an eight-under-par 64 and share of second place alongside Germany’s Marcel Siem and English duo David Howell and Gary Emerson, two shots behind leader Raphael Jacquelin of France, who equalled the course record with his 62.

English duo Lee Westwood and Paul Casey were a shot further back alongside 1997 champion Robert Karlsson of Sweden, while Ernie Els wa six off the lead after an erratic 68.

Bjorn, runner-up in the Open and Irish Open in consecutive weeks last month and winner here twice in the last three years, said: “I missed a few chances on the front nine but in the end got what I deserved.

“You definitely need one low round here, preferably two, and then the other rounds around 66 or 67. This is a good start and we’ll take it from here.

“Funnily enough my caddy Billy Foster said to me after five or six holes when I was getting a bit frustrated, ’Just keep going, you can easily birdie five in a row on this golf course,’ and that’s how I finished.

“The last nine holes were very, very good. I haven’t hit the ball as well since the Open. I stood over the ball and felt really comfortable.”

That was courtesy of a quick tip given to him by coach Simon Holmes as he walked past Bjorn on the range on Wednesday afternoon.

“We’ve been good friends for a number of years and he said to me ’You’re standing too far from the ball’,” explained Bjorn, who is coached by Sam Torrance’s father Bob.

“I moved in a little closer and it improved straight away. Bob has done wonders for my golf and I’ll see him over the next two weeks but sometimes someone from the outside will just walk past and see what is wrong.

“I have a funny history with Simon. I’ve had two lessons from him before today, here in 2000 and 2002 and went on to win. I’m going to bring him to every tournament.”

But asked if Holmes would be getting paid as well, Bjorn joked: “He gets a big kiss.”

Jacquelin, who also fired a 10-under-par 62 in the opening round of the Nordic Open three weeks ago but faded to a share of 25th, already has fond memories of the tournament.

He won a BMW Z8 for a hole-in-one here two years ago and drove the car to a tournament for the first time this week.

“I drive it but not that often,” said Jacquelin, who carded 10 birdies and no bogeys. “You can’t drive everywhere with this kind of car.”

Casey and Westwood were both glad to be back on a course where birdies are the norm after two tough weeks at the USPGA championship and NEC Invitational.

But Westwood also insisted: “If I played like I did today over the last two weeks I still would have shot a good score because I was in the middle of the fairway and hitting it to 15 feet on every hole.

“It’s nice to play well but I played well the last two weeks without getting any luck. Today I didn’t need any. I played lovely, didn’t make a five and had a couple of full lip-outs, one from eight feet for an eagle on the ninth.”

Casey, who criticised the “crazy” set up of Oak Hill for the USPGA, added: “The last two weeks were tough and we shouldn’t confuse this with tough. But it would have been easy to be defensive after the last few weeks so I was glad I went out and made a few birdies.”

Seve Ballesteros’ first appearance for four months is destined to be a short one after the Spaniard slumped to a 12-over-par 84 to lie last of the 156-strong field by five shots.

Ballesteros has not played on tour since missing the cut in the Benson and Hedges International in May. The 46-year-old was last seen later that month when he pulled out of the Volvo PGA championship at Wentworth citing the ’flu, the day after he had been fined and severely reprimanded by the tour for his conduct at the Italian Open.

The five-time major winner was disqualified for signing for an incorrect score after refusing to accept a one-stroke penalty for slow play and altering his card.

He then accused the European Tour ’mafia’ of waging ’a war’ against him, alleging officials were out to get him because of his membership of the so-called ’Gang of Four’ who complained about how the tour was being run.