Gooseny suffers first bogey

Retief Goosen had his first bogey in 28 holes when he resumed the Smurfit European Open with a two-stroke lead at the wet and windy K Club in Co Kildare today.

Pulling his drive left meant that the US Open champion was unable to make the green in two at the 449-yard first, even though the tee had been moved forward for the week because of the conditions.

He chipped well to four feet, but missed the putt. However, his lead remained two as Dutchman Maarten Lafeber failed to get up and down from just off the green.

When Lafeber then three-putted the short second twice winner Lee Westwood moved into second place on his own, two solid opening pars keeping him at six under par.

Australian left-hander Nick O’Hern bogeyed the first two like Lafeber and he went back to only three under, leaving South African James Kingston joint third after he saved his four at the first after driving into the trees and then picked up a birdie at the long third.

O’Hern’s compatriot – and fellow leftie – Richard Green, with whom he shared second place in the French Open last week, showed what was possible with a morning 66 that took him from four over to two under.

Also going well at three under, both for the day and for the championship, was England’s Gary Evans. He birdied the third, fourth and seventh.

Darren Clarke, abandoning his experiment with a belly putter, could still do no better than a 74 and was down the field at six over, while Padraig Harrington and Nick Faldo, paired together after posting two over halfway aggregates, were three and four over respectively with three to play.