Lee Westwood greatly increased his chances of, not only claiming his 17th European Tour International Schedule title, but also of making his fifth Ryder Cup appearance when a superb course record nine under par 63 gave him the lead after the first round of The Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship of Europe.
The 33 year old Englishman was in imperious form at the Gut Kaden course to the north of Hamburg, nine birdies without a mistake giving him a one shot lead over South African Retief Goosen and Robert Karlsson of Sweden, who briefly held a share of the course record with 64s before Westwood intervened.
The former European Tour Number One has won twice at Gut Kaden in the past, including in 2000 when he powered past Tiger Woods on the final day on his way to a victory which helped him claim the Harry Vardon Trophy at the end of that season.
And Westwood put that familiarity to good use again to move into pole position for the €600,000 (£409,469) first prize which would see him jump significantly onto the fringes of automatic qualification for Ian Woosnam’s Team at The K Club in September.
“I’m very keen to play (in the Ryder Cup)” he said. “I’ve played four now and played pretty well in all of them and it is great to represent your country and continent. It’s a week that you don’t really want to miss out on.
“My main objective at the moment is to just play well and try and play my way into the side over the next four tournaments that I’ve got left. If I do that, that would be great but if I don’t play well enough then hopefully Woosie will look at me and think ‘yeah, he’s starting to play some good golf.’
“He might also think, ‘hey, he’s won around that course a couple of times and could do it on the team.’ But I’m not trying to push my case for a pick – I’m trying to play my way onto the team rather than someone picking me.”
While a win for Westwood would greatly enhance his chances of featuring, a win for second placed Karlsson would propel him immediately into the current Ryder Cup top ten, following his win seven weeks ago in The Celtic Manor Wales Open.
The Swede gave himself that chance with an excellent opening round of eight under par 64 which, like Westwood, featured no dropped shots but which, unlike the Englishman, featured an eagle three at the 17th where a drive a seven iron was all that was required to cover the 559 yards, baked dry by the pre-tournament sunshine.
“It was pretty much good all over today,” he said. “Mind you, I had 29 putts so it wasn’t a fantastic putting round but at the same time I held up really well and I can’t say I really missed any good chances. But the course is quite forgiving.”
Joining Karlsson on 64 was Goosen, the South African looking to follow up his success in the 2005 Linde German Masters with another win on German soil. Of the leading trio, the two time US Open Champion was the only player to drop a shot, that coming at the 460 yard fourth, but he more than made up for it with seven birdies and an eagle three elsewhere.
“I am happy to get off to a good start,” he said. “You don’t want to go and shoot level par out there today because you know you are going to be nine or ten shots off the lead. But I got off to a good start on my back nine with four birdies and an eagle.
“To be honest, I think I had chances for a much lower round really but I think the bogey on the fourth sort of stopped me in my tracks a bit. I did make three more birdies coming in and although I missed a short one on the last, I’m pretty happy overall.”
Sharing fourth place was Frenchman Gregory Havret, who celebrated the birth of his first child, a daughter Jeanne, only 23 days ago, with a flawless, seven birdie 65, a score matched by compatriot Jean-Francois Remesy and The Ryder Cup Captain himself, Ian Woosnam.
The Welshman’s score of 65 was all the more remarkable considering it included a double bogey six at the 11th after he had to take a penalty drop after driving into the trees. Woosnam admitted the secret to his score had been his prowess on the greens.
“I am delighted and I played well, but I’ve got to say that was the best I have putted for ten years,” he said. “I just changed a few little things and I thought I’d go the complete opposite to the way I usually go and it worked.”
