Fisher hits form in London

Two days after wondering if he was too tired to give the European Open his best shot, Ross Fisher produced the lowest round of his Tour career today.

The 27-year-old from Surrey, whose biggest impact previously this season was to blow a chance to beat Phil Mickelson with a closing triple bogey eight, broke The London Club course record with a nine-under-par 63.

“A little bit surreal,” said Fisher, who despite the windy conditions finished with six successive birdies to leave some of the biggest names on the circuit trailing in his wake. He leads by two from Graeme McDowell.

“It’s probably the best, most solid round of golf I’ve played and on the front nine [he began on the 10th] the hole was as big as a bucket.”

Winner of his first Tour title in Holland last August, Fisher came through the 36-hole Open qualifier at Sunningdale on Monday and discussed with his manager how much he had left in the tank for this week.

Asked if he considered pulling out, he replied: “I sort of had a thought about it. I was feeling pretty tired, but how do you pull out of an event when you live only 40 minutes away?

“It’s pretty difficult to sit at home and watch it on TV, knowing that you are playing well.

“So I thought, ’let’s see how we go’. Have a few days off and if I feel fine I’ll play.”

He took his wife Joanne to Wimbledon for her birthday on Tuesday, left his caddie to walk the Kent course and then attacked it “blind” first thing this morning.

While six players were chosen at random for testing on the first day of golf’s new anti-doping era, Fisher kicked off with two birdies, did not have to wait long for two more and, after bogeying the short 17th, covered the outward half in 30.

That included sinking a bunker shot on the 187-yard seventh and hitting a massive drive on the dogleg 448-yard ninth that, to his disbelief, came up a mere 20 yards short of the green.

Defending champion Colin Montgomerie, round in 70 himself as he tries to follow up his runners-up finish in France, called Fisher “Nadal-like” for shots such as that.

Power is one thing, but scoring is what the game is all about and for that Fisher, like Lee Westwood, is singing the praises of Mark Roe.

It was a chip into water that led to that crushing eight in Shanghai last November, but he said the work he has been doing since with the former Tour player is “coming on nicely.

“In my mind, him and Brett Rumford are two of the greatest short-game people I’ve been privileged to witness,” he said.

Montgomerie was disappointed he could not build on being three under after eight – two shots into bunkers cost him bogeys after that – but he still had a better day than Open champion Harrington.

Recovering from a stiff neck, the Dubliner returned a level-par 72 and will need a massive improvement if his last Tour outing before his Open defence at Royal Birkdale is to bring him his first victory since Carnoustie.

“I’m happy with my short-game and I was as solid as I’ve been all year on the greens, but I struggled to get distance control,” he said.

“You’ve just got to stay patient and wait for it to turn round. My neck is still a little bit jammed, but I wouldn’t have played this week if I was truly injured.”

McDowell fell out of the top 10 on the Ryder Cup standings last Sunday, but the first prize of £400,000 could take him to sixth.

“I’ve not looked at the table for weeks – I know I’ve got to perform and all I can do is focus on day by day,” said the Northern Ireland golfer, who blamed a bogey at the 14th on feeling rushed because his group were being timed for slow play.

“I’m feeling mentally and physically fit and I’m not spending much time on the range. You pinpoint what you need to work on, get rest and stay off the Guinness on the weeks off.

“The race is only just beginning now we’re into the meat and bones of the season.”

Paul McGinley was six-under with two to play, but followed a bogey on the short 17th with a drive into water for a closing double bogey six and a 69.

Playing partner Justin Rose shot the same, while Darren Clarke, like McGinley striving for a top-five finish to qualify for The Open, returned a 71 like Sergio Garcia.