Spain’s Diego Borrego rediscovered the form which saw him capture the Madeira Island Open in March when a flawless six under par 66 gave him the lead after the first round of the Great North Open at De Vere Slaley Hall.
The 30 year old Spaniard finished two shots clear of three players, Bradley Dredge, Andrew Raitt and Nicolas Vanhootegem who all opened with 68s, while five players carded opening 69s including the 2001 Volvo PGA Champion Andrew Oldcorn.
Borrego, who missed three cuts out of four after his win at Santo da Serra and finished outside the top 50 in his last two events, put the upturn in his fortunes down to increased confidence from the tee.
“I had problems with my driver over the past few weeks but I have worked hard on it with Manuel Piñero and it has paid off,” said Borrego. “He has worked with me for about seven years and he knows my swing so it gave me a little bit of confidence.”
Along with the technical change, Borrego also made an equipment alteration to a new TaylorMade 360, and the double whammy paid off immediately, the Spaniard, who began at the tenth hole of the Hunting Course, opening with three birdies.
Further birdies followed at the 15th and 17th to see him ‘out’ in 31 and although the flurry of birdies dried up on the inward half, his only gain coming at the 349 yard fifth, he remained solid and no dropped shots saw him home in 35.
Two shots behind, the most delighted player to be tied for second was England’s Andrew Raitt, who was on his way to the Clearstream International Luxembourg Open on the Challenge Tour when he was contacted by officials to offer him the place of Spain’s Jose Manuel Lara, who withdrew.
“I had just got off the boat in Calais when the call came through so I turned around and headed back,” said Raitt, who drove to Carlisle on Wednesday night before completing the 400 mile journey on Thursday morning, arriving at De Vere Slaley Hall only two hours before his tee-off time.
“I’ve played here lots of times and I know the course well so there were no problems,” said Raitt, who lost his Tour card at the end of last year and who missed six months of golf over the winter thanks to an operation on his injured left shoulder.
“I’ve played pretty solidly on the Challenge Tour this year and I’m currently fifth on the Rankings so I will concentrate on that once this week is finished. Really I just saw this as a chance to hopefully make some money to pay for the rest of the Challenge Tour season.”
Raitt made only one mistake, at the first, where a poor drive cost him a bogey five, but after that he was flawless, the highlight of his round coming at the 514 yard 11th where he holed a four foot putt for an eagle three after a majestic three wood approach shot.
While Raitt was delighted, Welshman Bradley Dredge was far from enamoured not to be in a higher position, having finished his round with a double bogey six at the last. It brought back unhappy memories for the 28 year old from Cardiff, who did the same thing in last year’s final round to drop out of a tie for the Championship into a share of fourth place.
“I bet my caddie Rick that I’d make par today so I’m a fiver down as well as being four over par for that hole for the last two times I’ve played it,” said Dredge. “I’m going to have to make a big effort tomorrow – maybe I’ll go double or quits with Rick.”
The third man in joint second, Belgian Nicolas Vanhootegem, admitted his upturn in confidence had come from his victory in the Aa St Omer Open on the Challenge Tour last week, which ended a disappointing run of four missed cuts in a row on The European Tour.
“I knew I needed just one good score, one good performance and my confidence would be back to where it should be and that happened in St Omer. I shot a 67 in the third round and then a 65 in the final round to win and I’ve carried that on there this week,” he said.
