Spanish Open: Shaun Micheel leads leaderboard at the end of first round
Shaun Micheel grabbed a lead in the first round of the Spanish Open, as he shot a 5-under par on Thursday, May 3, 2012.
The 43-year-old American golfer displayed an amazing performance at the Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, in Seville, Spain.
He teed off early in the morning and reached the 1st spot on the leader board by making eight impressive birdies.
Micheel started the round with a long birdie and shot a bogey on the second hole. Then he again managed to do well on the third hole and scored another birdie.
After hitting the 4th hole at par, he shot two consecutive birdies on the 5th and 6th hole and added one more birdie on the 9th. He recorded five birdies and two bogeys on the front nine holes of the course.
Then he displayed an average score on the back nine holes and posted three more birdies on the leader board.
He performed well throughout the day and ended the round by making a bogey on the 18th hole.
He is currently enjoying a one-stroke lead over the Englishmen, Robert Rock and Danny Willett, and the Spanish, Jorge Campillo.
All the three players are tied at the second position, as they scored a 4-under 68 each.
Micheel is hoping to end his nine-year victory drought. He has changed his putter recently and is performing with a new one.
"It was just a battle of attrition out there today," Micheel said. I played in the pro-am Wednesday and couldn't manage one birdie so I changed my putter to an Odyssey XG-7 centre shaft and managed to hole eight birdies today”.
He added:
"It's the first time in two years I've tried a new putter and I also put the ball more forward in my stance to get more loft and the combination seemed to work well".
The new putter helped him on the first day in Spain. If he maintains his scoring trend in the next rounds, he can become the proud winner after nine years.
He only has to be impressive against the three professionals, who are currently holding the second position.
They are just one stroke behind. If Micheel falters in the second round on Friday, the chasers will overtake him on the leader board.
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