Michael Campbell goes under par at the BMW International Open
Michael Campbell carded a two-under par 70 in the opening round of the BMW International Open at the Golf Club Gut Larchenhof, to share the 52nd place, on Thursday, June 21, 2012.
The former US Open Champion has not been able to perform well throughout the first six months of the 2012 European Tour season.
His best finish of the season so far came in the Maybank Malaysian Open, where he took the 63rd spot on the leaderboard.
Moreover, it was the only tournament that saw him make the cut in the 10 events he has played so far. He is currently ranked 266th on the European Tour money list, with a prize money of €6,140.
Last week, he struggled at the Olympic Club, where he was contending for the second major event of the year, US Open, and missed the cut after the first two rounds of 79 and 74.
He reached Germany with the aim of improving his track record on the Tour and made a reasonably good start compared to his past performances.
He got off to a confident start on the back nine of the course in Cologne and recorded three birdies on the first five holes that he played.
However, two consecutive bogeys on the 17th, 18th and one on the first hole offset his then three-under par score.
Yet, he managed to bounce back with a couple of back-to-back birdies on the second and third hole that allowed him to settle six strokes behind the pace set by Fabrizio Zanotti and Marcus Fraser.
Both the leaders enjoyed their rounds with an eight-under par score each. The highlights of their performances include Fraser’s five birdies on the final six holes and Zanotti’s two eagles that he earned on the 13th and 16th hole.
Chris Wood, Paul McGinley and Danny Willett were further a stroke back at seven-under par 65 to tie for the third spot.
McGinley and Willett both succeeded in registering a bogey-free round each while sinking the same number of birdies and an eagle — five birdies and an eagle each.
The golf commentators believe that the competition may get tougher as the tournament progresses because of a large number of players standing close to the lead right from the opening round.
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