Welsh giving good show in Barbados

Wales were today making an excellent start to the defence of their World Cup title in the opening round in Barbados.

Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd were surprise winners of the two-man team event in Portugal last year, lifting the trophy by virtue of leading after 54 holes when the final round was cancelled due to torrential rain.

Despite both players tasting victory on the European Tour this year – Dredge in the European Masters and Dodd the European Open – the pair played down their chances of a repeat success at the exclusive Sandy Lane resort.

But five birdies in the first eight holes in today’s fourballs left Wales just two shots behind clubhouse leaders South Africa with six holes to play.

Dodd, who arrived in Barbados only on Tuesday evening, birdied the opening two holes and after Dredge had picked up another shot on the third, he also birdied the fifth. Dredge then picked up another shot on the eighth to take his team to the turn in 31.

While Wales were in the last group out alongside hosts Barbados, the pace had been set first by Germany’s Bernhard Langer and Marcel Siem and then by South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini and Richard Sterne, who birdied four of the last seven holes to record a 64.

Langer, who partnered Torsten Gideon to victory in 1990, will be eligible for the Seniors Tour next year but showed he could still compete with the younger generation.

The 49-year-old former Ryder Cup captain marked his first appearance in the event for a decade with five birdies, and Siem was quick to pay tribute to his 49-year-old team-mate.

“He played awesome(ly) today. His ball-striking is still much better than mine and showed me what I need to work on,” said Siem.

“It was my first time playing 18 holes with Bernhard on Wednesday, and it’s the most exciting Wednesday I’ve ever had.”

Langer had his 16-year-old son Stefan working as his caddy just days after the pair combined to win the Father/Son Challenge title for the second year in succession in Orlando.

“He has a handicap of plus one, so he knows what to do, and I even asked him to look at some of the putts because we play on greens like this in Florida,” Langer revealed.

“He might become a golfer but he’s got six-and-a-half years of school and college to go. But I was a bad example. I didn’t go to college. He might turn to me and say: ‘But you turned professional at 15,’but that’s not going to get him too far!”

Ireland, Scotland and England were all four shots off the lead approaching the end of their rounds.