Golf Update: Edfors seizes the early lead at Vivendi Cup
Johan Edfors surged into first day lead after posting 11 under 61 on Thursday at the Vivendi cup, which is taking place in Paris.
The first day started on the Retz and Marley course, in a pro-am format. The general expectations from the starting round were quite a many low scores. The reason behind this expectation was the length of both of the courses, which is shorter than most of
the European courses. The Marly course is 6,754 yards, while the Retz is stretched on 6,811 yards.
With the advantage of length, by the end of the round, Padraig Harrington carded seven birdies and jumped up the leader board, with a lead of seven strokes. However, after an hour later, Edfors came from behind and equalized the score with the veteran. He
was standing head to head with Padraig at a score of 61. Initially, the spectators perceived that he had completed the round, but to their surprise, two holes were left. Edfors smashed one more birdies in the last holes and flied past the early leader, with
a lead of two strokes.
Johan Edfors was about to post the tournament’s first magic number but he bogeyed the last hole and his score got jammed at 61. According to the experts, the strategy opted by the Swede was quite sensible. He started from the back nine with five birdies and
completed the first half with a score of 31. The 34-year-old knew that his long hits on the small tee would run in his benefit and this is what happened. Then he proceeded forward to the front nine and birdied the first two holes, followed by an eagle. A gap
of two holes came where he posted a par but after that, came another birdie, along with a bogey on the last hole. The ultimate score stopped at 61.
On the other side, Edfors told the press, that he was extremely pleased with his game. The fact that was adding all the excitement part was the feeling of achievement of bypassing the legend, Padraig Harrington. Edfors said that, he wanted
to play reasonably good, as he knew that low scoring was possible on the field but taking an edge on Harrington was nowhere in the plan. When he saw the leader board after the round end, Edfor added, he jumped in joy!
A little about the player, he is a Swedish and was born in Varberg. At the age of 22, he turned professional and it was 2006, when he posted his first victory at the European Tour. Edfors is the former winner of the Scottish Open and British
Masters championship.
Coming to Padraig Harrington, he started the day with couple of birdies but when he ended the sixth hole of the front nine, he was three under. However, after that, arrived disappointment and Harrington carded three bogeys but he picked up few more shots
and posted four more birdies to finish with a score of 68. Despite, he failed to finish in the top 20s. In this tournament, Padraig is accompanied by his brother, Fergal.
Initially, Harrington was not a part of the tournament, but when he fell out of contention from the Tour Championship, which is taking place in Atlanta, Harrington decided to make an appearance here in Paris.
Moving forward, the second player who gave a superb performance was David Dixon and he was only two strokes away from Johan Edfors. He was followed by his compatriot, John Parry and Jean-Francois Remesy at a score of eight under.
This was the first round of the Vivendi Cup, in which Johan Edfor notched the early lead and Padraig Harrington failed to make a mark. Peter Hanson has taken a withdrawal from this event because of illness therefore, technically speaking, Padraig Harrington
is the only Ryder cup team member left on the field. However, the way he is going, it seems he will continue his winless era.
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