European Order of Merit rivals Padraig Harrington and Retief Goosen are well off the pace following the first round of the Volvo Masters at Valderrama. Goosen had a two over 73 and Harrington a 74. Argentina's Angel Cabrera birdied the last four holes to card an eight-under-par 63 for an early four-shot lead. He picked up shots at the second, fifth, 10th, 11th, 15th, 16th, 17th and the last to finish four strokes ahead of Welshman Phillip Price, who returned a 67.
Cabrera finished a stroke short of the course record of 62 set by Bernhard Langer in 1994. "That was a fantastic round for me today - it was one of those rounds you dream of having in a tournament. I drove the ball well and made some good putts. Everything just clicked for me out there today. I ended up in the rough only a few times but the ball was always close to the fairway so I never had any real problems," he said.
Harrington made a poor start, incurring a two-stroke penalty at the 389-yard first after incorrectly repairing a pitch mark just off the green. The 31-year-old Dubliner, who had already received a free drop on that hole after hooking his tee shot via trees into a drainage ditch, immediately realised his mistake and summoned a European Tour rules official. He received a two-shot penalty because the repaired pitch mark had not been on the putting surface. He then chipped on to the green and made the putt to begin his opening round with a six.
Harrington dropped another shot at the par-five fourth, where he three-putted, but recovered with birdies at the fifth, 11th and 13th. He again came to grief, though, at the tough par-five 17th, landing in the greenside pond for a double bogey seven.
Goosen started well with a birdie at the par-four first after hitting his approach to nine feet. However, he struggled after than, with dropped shots on two, seven and 13 and a double-bogey seven at the 11th, slightly offset by birdies on eight and 15. Harrington trails Goosen by €23,119 in the standings in this final event.
Goosen's poor start no consolation for Harrington
Speaking afterwards, Harrington explained his costly first hole error: "It looked like it was on the green because of the shade. But as I dug it up there seemed to be a little bit more grass than you expect and a bell went off in my head. I thought 'oops'. You've got to expect strange things to happen at times, but it was obviously not the start you want. It was two shots given away for no reason at all."
The Dubliner was not comforted by Goosen's poor start. "There was no cheer for me at all in the fact that Retief also wasn't having the best of days. It's no good to me if we finish last and second last - I have no interest in the two of us playing badly," he said.
Harrington received a boost earlier today when he was named as the European Tour's Golfer of the Month for October. The Dubliner won the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland seven days after helping Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup at Wentworth, and also had finishes of seventh and sixth to be right on Goosen's heels with one event left in the Order of Merit race. Winning the Asprey-sponsored award earns a £1,000 donation to the Golf Foundation.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
