Australian Scott Strange certainly lived up to his surname when it came to picking a route to the top of the leader board after the first round of the Scandinavian Masters at Arlandastad Golf on the outskirts of Stockholm.
The 30 year old from Perth carded a superb six under par 64 to set the pace, leading by a shot from Swedish amateur Fredrik Qvicker and Englishman Sam Walker. But his pole position was made all the more incredible due to the fact that, 45 minutes before he teed off, he was not even in the tournament!
Strange was first reserve and travelled early to the golf course on a bus from his hotel just in case his chance came quickly. It was a good job he did as Scotland’s David Drysdale, due out in the first match at 7.30am, decided after a few swings on the range that his injured neck was not up to competition.
Tournament recorder Valeria Luna called Strange at 6.45am and told him of his good fortune and while the Australian was delighted at the lucky break, he then realised he faced an anxious drive through the Swedish hinterland in the hands of a fastidious bus driver with, all the time, the clock ticking down.
Luckily for Strange he made it just in time, arriving at the course with under ten minutes to spare whereupon he rushed to the tenth tee, changed his shoes, met up with caddie Gerry Byrne, who had abandoned Drysdale’s bag in favour of Strange’s, picked up a three wood and hit off.
“As soon as I got the call on the bus, we ran into a traffic jam and the bus driver would just not go over the speed limit and so I ended up getting off the bus at 7.21am,” said Strange, who also had not had the luxury of a practice round as his clubs did not arrive at the course until Wednesday morning.
“I was the flash running through the car park and through the clubhouse and out to the tenth tee,” he added. “I got to the tenth tee, puffing away and I said to Gerry ‘What do I do?’ and he said, ‘It’s this much, it’s this club, just hit it down there, let’s go’….and away I went.
“I was thinking on the bus, the worst case scenario is that I’ll be disqualified which will teach me a lesson for being first reserve and not getting there on time, the second case scenario is that I would get a two shot penalty, but the best case is that I made my tee time which is what happened.”
Incredibly, Strange birdied his opening hole, following his three wood tee shot with a seven iron to two feet and continued his remarkable opening to the tournament with four further birdies in the front nine to help him to the ‘turn’ in 32. Although his play on the inward half was less spectacular, he managed further birdies at the fourth and ninth to be home in 32 also on the 6845 yard, par 70 course.
Currently in 117th place on the Order of Merit, Strange, who finished in 149th place last season, will obviously benefit from a good week in terms of gaining his full playing privileges for the 2008 season.
“I am Category 12 which makes it difficult to get starts all the time but I am quite pleased with how the year has gone so far,” he said. “But if I can get some more starts and continue to play like this, that will be better and will help with my ambition of getting my card.”
Leading the chase in the second match of the morning out on the course was Swedish amateur Qvicker, a 21 year old from the Lindö Golf Club who has just completed his first year at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and who is playing in the tournament on an invite.
Qvicker was consistency personified on the front nine as he produced nine straight pars but ensured his climb up the leader board with five birdies in seven holes from the tenth.
Joining Qvicker was Englishman Walker who, like the Swede, did not drop a shot in his 65, his yield of five birdies coming in the seven holes between the ninth and the 15th to continue his good form of two weeks ago where he finished in a share of ninth place in The Russian Open Golf Championship.
“I played very well in Moscow but the only thing I didn’t do was hole any putts,” he said. “On the weekend there I hit 34 out of 36 greens but just didn’t hole anything so that was disappointing. If I’d holed even a few more there I’d have been comfortably in the top five but I had to settle for ninth. But it wasn’t bad.
“I am playing well at the moment and I am swinging the club the best I have for a long time. I am just not 100 % confident in all my game, especially my chipping and putting but I have done a lot of practice on that and I think it paid off today and in Russia. When you get a top ten it does increase your confidence and I took advantage of it.”
Nine players shared fourth place after opening 67s while the best of the American visitors were Corey Pavin, the 1995 US Open Champion and Jeff Sluman, the 1988 US PGA Champion, who both opened with level par 70s. John Daly, the US PGA Champion in 1991 and the Open Champion in 1995, began with a two over par 72.
Tom Lehman, the 1996 Open Champion and 2004 US Ryder Cup Captain had hoped to compete also, but had to withdraw on the eve of the event with a recurring wrist injury.
