Whitehouse battles injury and elements

England’s Tom Whitehouse overcame a wrist injury and a sustained heavy downpour to lead the Cadillac Russian Open in Moscow after shooting a six-under-par first round of 66.

The 25-year-old led by one from fellow Englishman Iain Pyman and their clubhouse scores looked unlikely to be beaten as the incessant rain, which is becoming an annual feature of this event at the Le Meridien Moscow Country Club, continued well into the afternoon.

Ireland's Stephen Browne finished today's round best of the Irish on -3.

Whitehouse woke up this morning with a pain in his left wrist but after receiving treatment he began well after reaching the 525-yard second in two to set up a birdie.

He picked up another shot at the short fourth and although he carded a bogey five at the sixth another birdie at the seventh took him to the turn in 34.

Four more birdies then came in the next six holes as he moved to six under at the top of the leaderboard, a position which he still held on his return to the clubhouse in this co-sanctioned event between the European and Challenge Tours.

Whitehouse admitted afterwards the cause of the injury remained a mystery but, in spite of the pain, it had not affected his game too badly.

“I actually woke up with a really bad wrist and I had some treatment this morning. I don’t know whether I did it on the range yesterday – maybe I hit too many balls – or whether I slept funny,” he said.

“I had it iced and took some Ibuprofen but it really hurt this morning and I just gritted my teeth for the first nine this morning and it kind of eased off as I went round but I could still feel it. I hit some poor ones but obviously hit some good ones and holed a few putts.

“I don’t know whether anyone will do better than six under – they will have to putt well if they are going to.”

Pyman began in even better fashion by eagling the second when he chipped in from the edge of the green and followed that with birdies at the fourth, fifth and ninth, spoiled only by a bogey at the 413-yard sixth, to turn in 32.

The Yorkshireman, winner of this event in 1999 and 2002, briefly moved to five under with a three at the 436-yard 10th but he gave that shot back at the 408-yard 12th.

However, further birdies came at the 13th and 17th, although a bogey six at the 15th prevented him tying for the lead.

“I played solidly all day because the conditions were tough. It was tricky when the rain came and it was a question of trying to keep mistakes to a minimum,” said Pyman.

“I’ve been playing well for the past month or so and I’ve been in the top 10 at the last two Challenge Tour events so it was a case of coming here and trying to keep that going really.”