Dredge four under in Malaga

Four days after Rhys Davies won in Morocco, the Welsh flag was flying high again in Malaga this morning – thanks this time to Bradley Dredge.

With the European Tour finally reaching European soil for the first time this season, Dredge led the Andalucian Open by one after playing his first 13 holes in four under par at the Parador club.

The 36-year-old believes Davies, 12 years his junior, could become a contender for the first-ever Ryder Cup in Wales this October, but he has not yet given up hope of being at Celtic Manor himself.

“For us Welsh guys this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Dredge, who finished second in the first qualifying event in Switzerland last September, but has since dropped to 21st on the points list.

“I need to win tournaments and these are the sort I have to look at,” commented Dredge on the eve of this week’s tournament.

“Unfortunately I’ve not played well enough to get in the majors or world championships, but I know what I have to do.”

One stroke behind were former Ryder Cup star David Howell and fellow Englishman Sam Hutsby, who turned professional after playing for Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup last year.

Howell, who has crashed from ninth in the world to a current position of 408th, had an eventful back nine.

Four birdies in his first seven holes, including a chip-in at the short 11th, put him top of the leaderboard, but then came a double bogey at the 449-yard 18th.

His drive was pulled left into the trees and could not be found in the permitted five minutes. That meant a long walk back to the tee and he did well in the end to drop only two strokes.

While that was happening, playing partner Barry Lane snapped a club playing a recovery shot from behind a tree. But, despite being down to 13 clubs as a result, he birdied two of the next three holes to recover to one over.

Tournament host Miguel Angel Jimenez, one of the favourites for the first prize, was down on two over after 11 holes, as was his playing partner Nick Dougherty.

Meanwhile, Darren Clarke, the third member of the group, mixed four birdies with four bogeys to be level par.