Castello Masters, Lawrie and Gonzalez perform
7073 yards of Club de Campo del Mediterraneo were conquered by the Scottish lad, Paul Lawrie, in the first round of the Castello Masters. On the other hand Sergio Garcia struggled on his home ground.
The Scottish teed off from the front nine and shot a score of seven-under-par- 64 to take a share in the lead. He helped it with a blemish-free round of seven birdies. The 41-year-old was joined by Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez. The champ replicated the score
and surged to the top with seven birdies carded in a bogey free round.
The tournament kicked off in pleasant weather conditions with plenty of sun shining on the field. Paul Lawrie stepped out of the clubhouse and took a lift from a golf cart to make his way to the first tee of the course. He took out his driver and posed a
few shots with it. Later he held himself straight and swung the driver to pull a tee shot at the par-4 hole.
The same approach continued, but the Scottish only managed to break par in the first six holes. However, on the seventh hole of par-4, his irons came out handy and Lawrie reached the green in two shots. Andy Forsyth, Lawrie’s caddie handed over a putter
to him and there went the first birdie of the $2000, 000 purse event. From there onwards, Lawrie picked up two more birdies on the front nine.
The back nine was inaugurated with yet another birdie on the par-4, 10th. Rest of the round rolled with three more birdies coupled with a few pars. The 1999 British Open Champion shot the lowest score of last three years of his career. The champ
is currently ranked at the 225th spot in the World rankings and has been winless in Europe for eight years
On the other side the South American, Ricardo Gonzalez, did not let any opportunity slip and fired two sets of three birdies to trail behind the leader. Later, he picked up another magnificent shot and earned himself a score of four-under-par in the back
nine.
The 41-year-old has been struggling to keep his card in his pocket as he has been winless in the last nine months and is currently ranked at the 125th spot of the European money list. The player gave the credit of his fine game to the 1999 Masters
champion Jose Maria Olazabal. He said that he took a few hours of lessons from him on the pro-am, which took place on Wednesday.
He said, “My driving and long game has been in order for some time, but I have not been scoring well all year because of my putting. On practice day Jose Maria gave me a little bit of advice about my putting stroke. He told me I needed to alter my posture
and at first what he said was very uncomfortable. But today as the ball started to drop into the hole that discomfort started to disappear".
The same feeling of achievement was experienced by the player, who turned professional in 1986. He was proud about his putting, but he did not take credit for it. In fact, he owed it to the fast greens that helped the ball to roll well. Lawrie said that
he had always felt at ease when the greens were accommodating and this is what happened in the first round of the Castello Masters, in 2010.
The first round of the Castello Masters, which was taking place at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, Spain wrapped up on Thursday with Paul Lawrie and Ricardo Gonzalez surging into the lead. The duo scored a seven-under-par with the help of seven birdies
against no bogey. The second round is about to start in a few hours, but Sergio Garcia, who birdied on the trophy is nowhere to be seen in the top half of the leader board.
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