Two men who approached the HSBC Champions tournament in contrasting ways – Niclas Fasth and Kevin Stadler – shared the honour of a handsome first round lead after a thrilling opening day in Shanghai.
The Swede and the American each carded course record equalling eight under par rounds of 64 at Sheshan International Golf Club to distance themselves from the rest of the field, nearest challenger being Fiji’s Vijay Singh, who posted a five under par 67.
The quality of the field for the opening event of The 2008 European Tour International Schedule was illustrated by the players amongst the group who posted four under par 68s, which included Open Champion Padraig Harrington, his European Ryder Cup team-mate Paul Casey, US Open Champion Angel Cabrera and pre-tournament favourite, World Number Two Phil Mickelson.
But the opening day plaudits belonged to Fasth and Stadler, who both only dropped one shot all day in excellent efforts which propelled them to joint pole position.
First in the chair was Fasth who travelled to China slightly disappointed that he had not made more impact at Valderrama last week where a victory would have given him the opportunity of winning the 2007 European Tour Order of Merit.
But he quickly banished all thoughts of that with a stunning start at the Shanghai venue, birdieing the opening hole before carding an eagle three at the second after his five wood approach found the back edge of the green from where he holed from 25 feet.
The 35 year old – winner of the 2007 BMW International Open in Germany – dropped his only shot of the day at the 13th but showed the resilience all top golfers need to bounce back immediately with birdies at each of the next three holes.
“It’s a good score, no doubt about that,” said the Swede. “I was playing well and putting well and it’s a great start to the tournament. It’s not very often you are three under par for two holes of any tournament and it really set me off on the right foot for the day.
“I’ve been more settled this year, both in practice on the range and playing on the course and I think that has been noticeable. When you are relaxed like that, it makes it a little easier to play more stable golf.”
Ironically, the one thing co-leader Kevin Stadler has not been is relaxed as, for the past few weeks, he has been battling to keep his card on the US PGA Tour, a quest which eventually bore fruit after last week’s final counting event – the Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Florida - hence he arrived in China a very happy man.
Finally free from worry, the son of 1982 Masters Tournament winner Craig who got into the tournament thanks to his ranking on the PGA Tour of Australasia, quickly reproduced the free-flowing golf which won him the 2006 Johnnie Walker Classic on The European Tour.
Like Fasth, the 27 year old started well and rattled in birdies at the first three holes and followed that with three more at the seventh, eighth and ninth to be out in six under par 30. The fireworks abated slightly on the inward half although he did make gains at the 13th, 14th and 16th to offset his only dropped shot of the day at the 11th where his drive plugged in a fairway bunker.
“It is great to come here and play a worry-free tournament as I haven’t had many of them in the last month or two,” he admitted. “I was right on the bubble (in America) pretty much for the last six weeks and played poorly and then I had a good one there last week which made the trip over here a lot more pleasurable.”
Three time Major winner Vijay Singh moved into third place at the end of the opening day thanks to a strong finish which saw the Sheshan International Golf Club yield four birdies in the last six holes to the 44 year old Fijian.
“I played really well today throughout, not just the last few holes,” he said. “I left a lot of short ones out there but I made a good eight footer for birdie at the last, that was the key one for the day for me. I wanted to finish with a birdie at the last, so that was nice.”
Leading the chase behind Fasth, Stadler and Singh was Open Champion Padraig Harrington who was philosophical about his first round after narrowly missing out on retaining The Harry Vardon Trophy as European Number One at Valderrama last week.
“I played really well early on but missed a lot of opportunities,” said the Irishman who had exact matching halves of 34 with three birdies and a dropped shot in each, the bogeys coming around the turn at the ninth and tenth.
“I missed two fairways around the turn and that was a couple of shots gone and if you do miss the fairways here, with the rough the way it is, it is difficult to control the ball and therefore a struggle to get to the greens.
“But then I holed a couple of good putts for birdie which got me right back into things. I know there are a couple of eight under par scores out there but four under is okay and it is a 72 hole event so there is plenty of time to catch up.”
World Number Two Phil Mickelson joined Harrington on 68 but, for a while at the start of his round, it looked like the American was on his way to the lead when he covered the first four holes in three under par. However, a bogey at the fifth stalled his progress and, from there on, birdies at the seventh and the 16th were his only further departures from par.
“I hit some good shots to get off to a good start and played steady thereafter,” he said. “I didn’t make as many birdies as I would have liked after that but I played pretty good, it was a solid round for a good start to the tournament.
“The course is very similar to a lot we play in the States with the Bermuda rough and the bent grass greens and the bunkers are wonderful. I thought it was a good, fair test of golf and I had to play well to shoot four under.”
