NICK FALDO made the right sort of moves for a golfing master when, in the company of Padraig Harrington, he shot a highly acceptable 70 in the opening round of the £700,000 Benson and Hedges International at The Oxfordshire yesterday. It included a hole in one and placed him two strokes behind the leader, Miguel Angel Jimenez, who braved hostile conditions for a splendid 68.
The worst fears of the organisers were realised when 25mph north easterly winds pushed the temperature down to four or five degrees. That and the challenge of a long, difficult course produced a number of horror stories. And the overall difficulty can be gauged from the fact that the field of 156 averaged 75.5 strokes.
In the circumstances, Harrington's 75 was quite acceptable. Indeed only 16 players, including Ronan Rafferty, broke par as competitors tried to come to terms with an English summer. "It's so, so cold . . . freezing out there," said Colin Montgomerie. There were no dissenters.
Rafferty was understandably pleased with a 70 that contained an eagle three at the long seventh when a four wood approach was followed by a 12 foot putt. "Anything under par was a good score out there," he said. As it happened, there was also considerable merit in an 80 from Raymond Burns who started on the 10th carded 6, 8 at his opening two holes reached the turn in 45 but then had sufficient professional pride to card two birdies in a front nine of 35.
And by way of emphasising the puzzling nature of an intriguing game, Des Smyth, though appearing to do little wrong, crashed to a bogey, double bogey finish for a 77 while one of his playing partners, Christy O'Connor Jnr, sank putts of 25 feet, 40 feet and 20 feet, covering the last five holes in two under for a round of 76.
Philip Walton, David Feherty and Paul McGinley carded only one birdie each when they, too, shot 76. Nor could Darren Clarke break from the magnetic pull of this figure while wondering how he could have scored so moderately having hit so many good shots. But it was that sort of day, and as an old hand, Eamonn Darcy (73) was well aware of the fact, having been forced to settle for a par at the 210 yard 15th after a superb two iron tee shot to 10 feet.
Almost predictably, the horror stories were concentrated largely on the 585 yard 17th a sharp, dog leg left where the competitor is offered the gamble of a long second shot over water. Several of those who elected to take this route, lost the election. Notable among them was England's Grant Clough who ran up an 11 compatriots Chris Tingey and Ross McFarlane had 10s, while several others had sevens.
They included the gifted New Zealander Michael Campbell who went on to complete a nightmare round of 84. Meanwhile, the hole also caused an early departure for Sweden's Anders Forsbrand who was disqualified after signing for a wrong score there.
Yet, this sort of evidence seemed to do little to ease Harrington's displeasure at what he saw as a tired performance characterised by poor concentration. In truth, it was a lot better than that, even if his play lacked its usual precision.
In the event, it was fascinating to see master and pupil set off down the first Faldo arrow straight drive and equally solid two iron approach to 10 feet, followed by two putts for a par Harrington hooked drive way left second shot in bunker front right out to 20 feet with one putt for a par. The pupil went on to sink a 25 footer for a par at the third and settled down to some admirably solid play.
There were only two blots on his card, but unfortunately for him, both were double bogeys. The first came at the treacherous 10th where poor contact with a six iron into the wind, caused him to push it to a watery grave. The other was at the short 15th where another pushed shot, this time a two iron, finished in a green side trap from here he took four to get down. His only birdie was at the previous hole where he hedged to two feet.
"I certainly got breaks out there but I wasn't swinging well and I was mentally tired," he said afterwards. "I need to lift myself. Before winning last weekend, I had the incentive of trying to improve my ranking position. Now I need to find another goal so that I can push myself a bit harder."
From Faldo's perspective, his young companion didn't have any cause for worry. "I remember him and Paul McGinley coming to my master class at Welwyn (Welwyn Garden City) a few years ago (1991), so it was interesting to see him again," he said. "He swings it well and has the right idea of what he's trying to do on the course. Winning last weekend was a good breakthrough for a young lad."
Then, almost as an afterthought, he recalled the advice he had given Harrington five years ago. Typically competitive, he had wished the youngster luck before adding "Don't beat me." Yesterday, Harrington was happy simply id be in his company. What impressed the Dubliner most about Faldo's game? "Great, great chipping it looked so solid," he replied.
Bernhard Langer seems certain to bring his run of successful cuts to 68, after a fine round of 69 in which he birdied his last three holes. Is he fighting a return of the yips? "Yes, there were occasions this year when I was close to that but my putting was very good today," he replied. What was his solution? "I did a lot of thinking and a lot of praying."
Faldo might have been on the verge of seeking divine intervention when he stood on the tee at the 171 yard 13th, two over par for the round. But from a gently struck seven iron downwind, the ball held its line all the way to clatter against the pin before dropping into the cup a hole in one. It shouldn't have happened, given that the six previous aces by Faldo were all scored with a six iron.
After that, he carded solid pars at the next three holes and carried the water with a two iron second shot of 224 yards at the 17th before chipping to three feet for a birdie four. He then finished with a.not.her birdie, the product of a six iron followed by a 20 foot putt.
"It was 85 degrees when I left the States," he said. "This was just a survival day on a very demanding course. I hit a lot of long irons and I'm satisfied that 70 was a great score in the circumstances."
