Duo make flying start at Gleneagles

Ryder Cup-chasing pair Thomas Bjorn and Paul Casey were off to flying starts in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles today.

A month after they did battle for the Irish Open title Bjorn threw the gauntlet down by covering the first 11 holes in a staggering nine under par despite the testing wind.

At that point the Dane led by six strokes, but the closing stretch brought him back down to earth a bit. He bogeyed the short fourth, his 13th, and parred in for an eight-under 65 – a record for the lengthened course.

That finish, however, enabled former winner Casey – and South African Andrew McLardy – to close the gap significantly. McLardy returned a 67 and Casey then matched that.

Bjorn, a member of Europe’s winning teams in 1997 and 2002, lies 15th in the race for places in this September’s side, while sixth-placed Casey is close to securing a second successive cap.

In Ireland Bjorn birdied the last two holes and won after Casey three-putted the final green.

They were both at the US Open last week and Casey had the better time there, finishing 15th while Bjorn was 48th.

“After Winged Foot anything seems easy,” said Bjorn during his sparkling opening burst. He birdied six of his first eight holes, added another at the start of the outward half and then struck a fairway wood to six feet for eagle on the 516-yard second.

He was playing with Paul Broadhurst – eighth in the cup race – and the midlander opened with a three under 70.

Conditions were far from easy, but not as bad as for the eve-of-tournament pro-am, which had to be abandoned in mid-afternoon because of the gales.

Centre of attention, of course, was Colin Montgomerie after the double bogey finish that cost him US Open glory, but he was among the later starters.

Montgomerie, who now has a record five second-place finishes and no wins in majors, was paired with England’s Kenneth Ferrie, sixth at Winged Foot after sharing the lead with a round to go.

The third member of the group was scheduled to be Jean van de Velde, whose Carnoustie cock-up in 1999 remains the thing for which he is best remembered - and probably always will be.

But the Frenchman pulled out this morning with flu. He was replaced by Montgomerie’s fellow Scot Gordon Law.

Another withdrawal was Worthing’s Gary Evans because of gallbladder problems. Sheffield’s Malcolm Mackenzie came in for him, but was two over after seven.