Irish duo show the way

Peter Lawrie and Graeme McDowell flew the flag for Ireland when the European tour’s flagship event began at Wentworth today.

Out-shining Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and all but one of Europe’s Ryder Cup heroes the pair – Lawrie from Dublin and McDowell from Portrush – returned five under par 67s in the first round of the BMW Championship.

On a course Nick Faldo described as “amazingly fiery” Lawrie was in the first group to tee off at 7am and set a target which stood up until McDowell birdied the final three holes just before 6pm.

They were then joined in a three-way tie at the top by Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima as none of the big guns fired on all cylinders, title favourite Els managing only a 73 and Ryder Cup star Paul Casey slumping again to a 78.

Even later in the evening Meath’s Damien McGrane threatened to make it an even better day for the Emerald Isle.

Last man to tee off, he birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th to move to three under and still had two par fives to come. But he then bogeyed the short 14th.

McDowell, so disappointed to miss the halfway cut in the Irish Open last week and in his defence of the Italian Open three weeks ago, admitted he was surprised the scoring wasn’t better.

But the 25-year-old, whose season kicked off so brightly with a second place finish in America in March, was delighted to put himself in position to strike for the massive first prize of nearly £460,000.

“I made some sloppy bogeys, but it’s something to build on and it’s a long time since I’ve done any real scoring,” he said.

“I’ve been getting frustrated, but Italy was a wake-up call and I’ve re-dedicated myself.”

The winner’s cheque is almost as much as 31-year-old Lawrie had earned in his tour career at the start of this year, but if you are tempted to believe that a player ranked 259th in the world will surely fall away as the pressure builds then think back 12 months.

And two, three and four years as well.

The defending champion this week is Scott Drummond, who was 435th in the rankings when he triumphed and created one of the biggest shocks in tour history.

Before him came Ignacio Garrido, a former Ryder Cup man, but 229th at the time of his win. Before him Anders Hansen, who like Drummond had not won before and was ranked 141st. And before him Andrew Oldcorn, 297th at the time.

“Sometimes it’s your week and sometimes it’s not,” commented Lawrie, Rookie of the Year in 2003, but still seeking his first victory.

The former Irish amateur champion – that was nine years ago and it took him far longer than he hoped just to get on the first rung of the ladder to fame and fortune – is often mistaken for Scottish namesake Paul, the 1999 Open champion, by autograph hunters around the world.

“It happens all the time,” he commented. “The funniest was in China when two Scottish lads asked if they could have a photo.

“After taking it they smiled and said ’Thanks, Paul.’ I said nothing back.”

He was off with a birdie before most of the field had even woken up, sank a 124-yard sand wedge for an eagle two on the eighth and after a bogey at the 11th chipped in on the short 14th for the second of three successive birdies and added another on the last.

“I played lovely,” he said. “When I saw the draw I thought it was great. The greens were in perfect conditions and you’ve just got to take advantage.”

Els was out early too, but the world number three’s only birdie came on the long fourth. He bogeyed two of the next three and parred the remaining 11.

“I can’t say I played terrible,” stated the South African, six times a winner of the World Match Play on the course, but yet to capture what was until this year known as the PGA Championship.

“I had some chances, but just didn’t read the greens right. I guess you could say there is room for improvement.”

Goosen, who next month defends the US Open, was two over after eighth, but six birdies helped him to a 70, the same as Padraig Harrington on his return to the event after two years of giving it a miss because of his poor record.

Three-time winner Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke had 71s and so did Luke Donald – after hitting into the rhododendron bushes on the 531-yard last and running up a double bogey seven.

Mark Roe did worse than that, ruining his day’s work with a 10 after hitting first into a bunker, then into a Ford Focus parked in the trees, then a bush.

“It feels like a bomb has gone off in your head,” said the Sheffield golfer after signing for a 78. “What a bizarre, brutally cruel game it is at times.”

He knows. At the 2003 Open at Sandwich Roe would have been lying fourth after the third round, but was disqualified because he and Jesper Parnevik had forgotten to exchange scorecards on the first tee.

The winner the following day was little-known Ben Curtis, who is the only American playing this week and on his 28th birthday began to put a nightmare season – nine missed cuts in 11 starts on the US Tour – behind him with a 68.

Three closing birdies enabled Curtis to be in a tie for fourth with, amongst others, 2001 champion Oldcorn.