Keith Horne grabs first round lead at Saab Wales Open at Celtic Manor
South African Keith Horne grabbed the first round lead at the Saab Wales Open after his near-perfect round of seven-under, 64 at the breathtaking Celtic Manor Resort on Thursday, June 3.
The 40-year-old Horne, who is currently ranked 289th in the world rankings and 108th in Race to Dubai, has been playing on the tour since the age of 25 when he turned professional. He has seven professional wins, four out of which have
come on the Sunshine Tour. Horne carded seven spectacular birdies in his bogey-free round, five of them coming in his back nine.
“We'll see if it keeps going for the next couple of days,” he said. “I did some work with Hennie Otto on the range and I've been doing some work with my coach, but just a couple of key thoughts that I changed on to the golf course, and they clicked and I
just stuck to them for the whole round.”
Defending champion Graeme McDowell posted a round of four-under, 67 with three birdies and a 30-foot eagle at par-4, 15th. McDowell was expected to pull in another birdie at the famous 16th where he carded his decisive birdie last year,
but failed to repeat history and finished the hole level par.
McDowell is tied for the fifth place at the moment and is hoping to tune himself up for the upcoming US Open where he won last year, owing much of the credit to his victory at Wales Open. McDowell barely managed to break into the Top 50 last year to qualify
for the US Open. He was 0.01 ranking points better than Australian Aaron Baddeley and is currently ranked fifth in the world. The Northern Irishman is also the defending champion at Congressional next week.
"It's all simmering nicely. I need to get into the mix this weekend and get the old juices flowing again." said McDowell. "I've definitely got three or four days of chilling out planned next week - maybe go and wear out a groove in my mum's couch in Portrush."
Sweden’s Peter Hanson finished for outright second, one shot behind the leader. He carded a staggering eight birdies but stumbled on two bogeys to fall behind Horne. Ross Fisher and Miguel Angel Jimenez are also two of the contenders in the strong European
Tour field. Fisher is currently ranked 52nd in the world rankings and needs a strong finish to qualify for the US Open. He finished his round with one-under, 70. Jimenez had a rather disappointing day with 73.
Several top ranking European players are participating in the £1.8 million event, many of whom are hopeful of improving their ranking to qualify for the second major of the season. Automaker Saab came forward to sponsor this year’s event and also designated
a glittering Saab 9-5 2.0-litre TTiD XWD worth £34,465 for the hole-in-one at the 189 yards, par-3, 13th.
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