Irish stutter and stumble as Montgomerie takes the lead

Apart from the joker in the pack, a tour rookie Frenchman by the name of Nicolas Joakimides, yesterday's first round of the English Open at Hanbury Manor, north of London, was tailor-made for Europe's number one Colin Montgomerie. With the Irish stuttering and stumbling on a course where straight driving and concentration on the greens were imperative, Montgomerie fired an eightunder par 64 to claim a familiar position at the top of the leaderboard.

Montgomerie's one indiscretion, a hooked three-wood off his first tee, which happened to be the 10th, found him in heavy rough. "That made my day," said Montgomerie, who promptly launched a salvage operation that many of the Irish contingent will be forced to conduct in today's second round if they are to survive the half-way cut.

Joakimides, meanwhile, a 24year-old graduate of the Challenge Tour who has missed the cut in 11 of his previous 12 tournaments, was the only player who ever threatened to leapfrog Montgomerie, at one stage sinking six successive birdie putts before finishing with five straight pars for a 65 which left him a shot adrift of the leader.

"This course played into my hands," said Montgomerie, who played it blind after failing to get in a practice round on Wednesday when thunder and lightning forced the pro-am's abandonment. "You get rewarded for hitting the ball straight, and penalised for finding the rough, just like at the US Open. When my opening shot went into the rough, it actually boosted me because I knew others would be punished for hitting a bad shot," he added.

His enthusiasm for the course had nothing to do with the fact that he has a contract with Marriott, of course, but the Irish didn't exactly share his enthusiasm after what was a poor day at the office for most of them. Ronan Rafferty, on the mend again after a thumb injury which has disrupted his schedule, led the challenge with a 69 and, of the rest, only Christy O'Connor Jnr and Eamonn Darcy, who both had 71s, managed to beat par.

Darren Clarke had a disappointing bogey-bogey finish for a level par 72, to join Des Smyth on that mark, while Raymie Burns shot 73. Padraig Harrington, who struggled on the homeward journey, and Philip Walton both had rounds of 74.

"I'd a slightly off-day," confessed Clarke, who at one stage managed to get it to two under par when recovering from a bogey at the short 11th to pick up birdies at the 12th, 13th and 16th. However, he three-putted the 17th and bogeyed the last where, after hitting what he termed a "perfect drive," he bent down to pick up his tee and looked up in time to see his ball take a vicious kick into the rough. As happened to many players who found the rough, he failed to save his par there - and promptly headed off to the putting green.

There were similar tales of woe from his compatriots. Harrington's round was scarred by an ugly double bogey six at the 13th where his seven iron approach plonked into the water, while Walton was anticipating a birdie - "at least," he said - at the 17th, only to walk away with bogey after his six iron approach hit a tree and ricocheted into water.

Others, however, proved that the course could be conquered. Lee Westwood, for example, was two over par after 10 holes but then covered his final eight holes in six under par which included four birdies and an eagle. Indeed, that eagle at the 17th was notable for the fact that his playing companions Ignacio Garrido and Robert Allenby also performed similar feats.

Then, there was the heroic performance of Joakimides. He started on the 10th and, for a player whose only weekend finish in 12 attempts was a 77th placing at the Dubai Desert Classic, Joakimides confounded the doubters. "The secret was my putting," said Joakimides, although he also professed there to be "magic" in his hotel room. The remark was prompted by the fact that Nicolas Vanhootegem, another struggling tour rookie who has made one cut in 11 events, is sharing with him this week and shot an opening 66.