Lynn launches birdie blitz

David Lynn warmed up for the defence of his maiden European Tour title with a superb start to the Wales Open at Celtic Manor today.

Starting from the 10th in damp, breezy conditions, Lynn dropped a shot at the opening hole but responded with four birdies in the next five.

That included three twos on the tough par threes measuring a total of 572 yards and catapulted the 31-year-old from Stoke to the top of the leaderboard.

At three under par Lynn, who will defend his KLM Open title in Holland next week, was a shot ahead of playing partner Alastair Forsyth and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, with New Zealand’s Michael Campbell among a large group a shot further back.

Also on one under par were late entries David Gilford and Sebastian Fernandez, the duo making the most of their late call-ups to the event following the withdrawals on Wednesday of Brian Davis (food poisoning) and Gary Evans (back injury) respectively.

With the Wentwood Hills course at Celtic Manor under reconstruction ahead of the 2010 Ryder Cup, the £1.5m (€2.2m) event is being staged over the Roman Road course, which is 600 yards shorter with a par of 69.

That led to early speculation the magical 60 barrier could be broken for the first time on the European Tour this week, but Ryder Cup star Paul McGinley was not convinced.

“It might be one of the shortest courses we play but I don’t think it’s going to be the easiest,” said the Dubliner, second in the BMW Championship at Wentworth on Sunday.

“From what I hear the rough is up, the greens are very tricky and there are a lot of elevation changes. Bad weather is forecast and I don’t think you are going to find extremely low scoring.”