Playing partners Benn Barham of England and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts joined Scot Marc Warren at the top of the leaderboard after matching five under par 67s in the first round of the EnterCard Scandinavian Masters at Barsebäck Golf and Country Club in Sweden.
Barham's was the most impressive performance of the trio, who lead the field by a stroke, as he had to play with a set of clubs made up for him after his own went missing in transit from London.They still had not been found by the time he teed off - without a practice round.
As his normal set are an uncommon Vega make - Japanese and made from 'frozen steel' that is used in the production of Samurai swords, he claimed - his opening round was all the more impressive.
He would have led on his own after six birdies, four in succession from the 12th, if he had not bunkered himself on the last for a closing bogey.
"I was only able to walk the course on Tuesday," said Barham. "There was still no sign of the clubs on Wednesday and it took me a couple of hours to get some new irons, new putter, wedges. I tried to get everything to match what I had but the irons are completely different.
“The putter is pretty much the same and I felt very much at home with that today. Driver is supposed to be the same but it is not quite and the three wood, it wouldn’t be my first choice. I tried not to use it today and in fact only used it twice. I have never hit driver so much just because I didn’t want to hit the three wood.”
Even his footware failed to show up and Barham had to hunt for a new set of Footjoy shoes, duly provided by the local rep complete with the Swedish flag on one shoe and the European flag on the other. He found them so comfortable he intends wearing them for the rest of the week.
The only thing he is anxious to get back is his lucky ball-marker in his missing golf bag.
Barham had quite a tussle on the Challenge Tour last year with Warren, with the Scot topping the Rankings and Barham claiming the seventh card. Warren, who holed the winning putt for Great Britain and Ireland against the US in the 2001 Walker Cup is aiming to follow Swede Johan Edfors, who won the 2003 Challenge Tour Rankings and has claimed three European Tour titles this season.
"Johan Edfors has had a dream season and the guys who have won the Challenge Tour are getting results on the main Tour. If I can be one of those guys and kick on, I'll be delighted," he said.
Like Barham and Warren, Colsaerts' card for next year is by no means assured. But the self-assured Belgian is aiming higher than just keeping his card.
"I just keep knocking on the door," said Colsaerts. "People know I can do better than I have showed so far."
Fredrik Andersson Hed leads the home challenge at four under par alongside last year’s US Open Champion Michael Campbell, who missed a six foot eagle putt on his last hole for a share of the lead, Frenchman Rafael Jacquelin, Scot Alastair Forsyth and England’s Tom Whitehouse, last season’s Qualifying School winner.
In the group a further shot back at three under par are four more Swedes – Peter Hanson, Fredrik Jacobson, Jarmo Sandelin and Henrik Stenson, the highest ranked player in the field at 17th in the world who birdied two of the last three holes.
Edfors, looking for victory this week to force his way into the automatic qualifying places for The European Ryder Cup Team, with just five events to count before next month's match against the USA, lies three strokes off the lead after a 70.
