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McDowell's Birthday Bonus - a Course Record at Kungsängen
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McDowell's Birthday Bonus - a Course Record at Kungsängen

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, a professional for only six weeks, broke the record on his first competitive round at the Kungsängen course to which he is attached on the opening day of the Volvo Scandinavian Masters at Kungsängen near Stockholm.

McDowell, who turned 23 on Tuesday, enjoyed a belated birthday present when he fired a seven under par 64 despite just nine holes of practice, trimming one shot off the existing record set by four different players in 1998 and edging in front of Australian Adam Scott, who also equalled the old mark earlier in the day.

It was another massively impressive performance by the former Walker Cup player from Portrush in County Antrim, who missed the cut in his first professional tournament, The Great North Open, but then claimed a share of 27th position in the Murphy’s Irish Open the following week in which he carded a third round 65.

McDowell only had time for nine holes to acquaint himself with the course on Tuesday after his flight from Manchester to Stockholm was delayed, but covered the same stretch in just 31 strokes to set the new record. He has invites to seven tournaments, from which he has to make enough money to earn his card for next year, and is full of confidence after becoming the top-ranked college golfer in America this year.

"I did not feel that good for the first five or six holes but scrambled and hung in there and things got better from then on," said McDowell, who bettered Woods' collegiate scoring average while winning nine events at the University of Alabama and helped Great Britain and Ireland retain the Walker Cup for the first time at Sea Island, Georgia, last year.

"I'm very happy to be here and to break the course record is a dream start. I knew that most of the top golfers in the world play college golf in America so I knew if I could get into the top 15 I would be ready to turn professional. Being top ranked this year has reinforced my belief.

"The top priority now is to get a card for next year and a good result here would not be a big surprise because I have been playing well since turning professional before The Great North Open at De Vere Slaley Hall, but I was not scoring well."

McDowell, tipped for big things by his fellow Ulsterman, Darren Clarke, birdied two holes on the back nine – his outward half – but finished with a rattle, birdieing the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth to reduce a difficult nine holes to 31 blows.

As an amateur at the University of Alabama, McDowell was ranked Number One Collegiate Golfer in the United States. Out of 12 starts he has won an incredible six events with a stroke average of 69.6 - better than the previous best returned by Tiger Woods and Luke Donald.

Qatar Masters champion Scott had earlier equalled the former course record with his 65. Scott carded five birdies and an eagle, outscoring playing partner and defending champion Colin Montgomerie by five shots.

Montgomerie recovered from a poor start to birdie the last two holes and finish with a one under par 71 in the defence of the last title he won on The European Tour International Schedule

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Scott had missed the cut in five of his last six events but reaped the rewards of a meeting with coach Butch Harmon at the Open Championship after struggling with his technique.

"I'm very happy with that start, it's nice to put a low number on the board. It's been while," said the 22 year old Australian, who now has Montgomerie's former long term caddie, Alastair McLean, on his bag. "Some bad habits in my technique were killing me and I was not able to sort them out before the tournament came round. I was trying to come up with a quick fix and it was not working so well."

Montgomerie had made a poor start with bogeys on the tenth and 13th, and also dropped two shots coming home, but the Scot picked up five birdies and was reasonably satisfied with his day's work.

"I missed a couple of greens on the wrong side but it's okay," he said. "It gives me a chance to shoot low tomorrow and get in there."

England, Warren Bennett, Matthew Cort and Grant Hamerton all shot 66s to tie for third place ahead of a group on 67 containing current Ryder Cup players, Niclas Fasth and Jesper Parnevik.

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