Stunning start for Stenson

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson today made a flying start to the delayed first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship in Hamburg.

Yesterday’s play was completely washed out after heavy rain overnight and throughout the morning left the Gut Kaden course drenched in water.

The intention was still to complete 72 holes by Sunday evening however, with the halfway cut made for the top 50 players instead of the usual 70, and 36 holes to be played on the final day.

Play began on schedule this morning and Stenson, in the fourth match out at 8am local time, quickly made up for lost time.

Starting on the 10th, the 29-year-old holed his second shot to the opening hole from 112 yards for an eagle two, and followed up with a birdie on the next.

Another birdie on the 13th took him to four under par for four holes, one clear of England’s Mark Roe who was three-under after six.

US Open champion Michael Campbell’s fine form was continuing, the New Zealander picking up two birdies in his opening three holes to lie two-under.

Campbell, fifth in the Open last week, was playing alongside Padraig Harrington, who withdrew from St Andrews following the death of his father.

Unsurprisingly Harrington, second here last year behind Trevor Immelman, admitted he was struggling for motivation on his return to action but made a steady start with three pars.

Roe quickly dropped back with two bogeys, but Campbell made it a hat-trick of birdies on the 13th to improve to three-under.

Harrington also birdied the 13th to move into red figures, three behind Stenson who remained four-under after six holes.