Maybin on course

Gareth Maybin did not leave Turin in the best of moods last May after missing the halfway cut in the Piemonte Open.

It could be very different this weekend.

On the same Royal Park course, but on the main European Tour now, the 28-year-old from Belfast takes a three-stroke lead into today’s second round.

Although England’s Seve Benson shot a 62 in winning last year’s Challenge circuit event Maybin’s seven under par 64 counts as a new course record because of the changes made.

And although he is a Tour rookie the former Irish amateur international is already confident he has the game to succeed at this level.

At last December’s South African Open – only the seventh Tour event of his career – Maybin faced an eight-foot putt for victory, but missed it and lost a play-off with Richard Sterne.

“I was very disappointed at the time – any time you’re beaten in a play-off you’re not going to be too chuffed,” he said.

“But I went home for Christmas and reflected on it. I looked at the names below me and a lot of them were highly-ranked.”

Among those Maybin finished ahead of were compatriot Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman.

Among the players he led before resuming this morning were former Open champions Paul Lawrie and John Daly, eight-time European number one Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke and last week’s winner Thomas Levet.

Daly, a lowly 794th in the world and in only his second event back after being given a six-month US Tour ban, fared best of that group yesterday.

The 43-year-old American, thrown into jail to sober up last October and down from 20 to 16 stones following gastric band surgery in February, was four under par with two to play, but bogeyed both the 17th and 18th.

Scot Richie Ramsay did the same after reaching six under and that dropped the 2006 US Amateur champion into a tie for second with England’s Marcus Higley and French pair Raphael Jacquelin and Christian Cevaer.

Montgomerie had two double bogeys in a 72 – he was in water both times – while Levet and Lawrie did not have a birdie between them in shooting 73 and 76 and Clarke bogeyed the first four holes en route to a 74.