Swede Henrik Nyström and England’s Greg Owen, who soared into the public consciousness by briefly leading the Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in July, hold the first round lead in the Linde German Masters at Gut Lärchenhof, Cologne.
Nyström fired his seven under par 65 in the morning before 29 year old Owen had even teed off. But the Mansfield golfer birdied eight holes in a ten hole spurt from the seventh to move into the outright lead before his only three putt of the round brought him back level with the Swede.
The leading pair are one stroke clear of two other players on 66, Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina – bidding for back to back wins following his success in the Omega European Masters – and Australian John Senden.
Owen, a towering 6ft 3ins tall, admitted that his Open experience took its toll mentally. After 35 holes he was leading the world’s oldest Major and at the 11th hole in the third round he holed out memorably for an albatross two.
“It was an incredible experience and one I am never going to forget” he said. “It took me nearly a month to come down but I gave myself a good talking to after missing the cut at the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship and my putting’s come good again.”
One of the drawbacks of being 6ft 3in, however, is that Owen is prone to suffering back pains – and to that end has turned to a martial arts expert, Ron Cuthbert from Peterborough, for assistance.
Owen explained: “It’s an ache, not an injury, but it is something which needs strengthening and stabilising during the winter. I am going to do a lot of hard work as I didn’t do anything last winter and am paying the consequences now. Hopefully I can reap the rewards next season.
“Ron applies martial arts to the golf swing. He gets the muscles working which you need in the swing. It’s not holding me back in terms of my career but I suffer a tiredness towards the end of a round and the back tends to lock.”
At 39th on the Volvo Order of Merit, Owen can afford to look forward to his winter break with an easy mind. However Nyström, in 121st position, cannot relax until his card is secured for 2002.
After a round containing an eagle and six birdies, he said: “I changed my putting at the BMW International Open and my form has gradually come back. I did some good work with Denis Pugh by changing my rhythm, moving my hands up and forward and standing closer to the ball. Basically I changed everything. I had to as I had been putting horribly.”
The breaks favoured the Swede on the day – first at the second hole when he holed a pitch from 45 yards for a birdie, and then at the 15th when he was within 30 seconds of declaring his ball lost. Instead, one of the other caddies in his group located the ball and from deep in the rough Nyström made a birdie four.
Senden, fresh from a month’s break in Brisbane, eagled the 15th on his way to a 66 while Gonzalez fed off the thrill of winning high in the Alps last month by keeping his fine form intact.
Equally rewarding was the fact that he played with Colin Montgomerie for the first time and out-scored him by four shots. He laughed: “Monty was the player I admired most when I was watching the golf on television in Argentina before coming over here. He’s a great guy and it was fantastic to play with him.”
A dozen players are tucked in just behind the leaders on 67, five under par. They include co-promoter Bernhard Langer, attempting to win his own tournament for the fourth time, Pierre Fulke, Ian Poulter and Jarmo Sandelin, who was in touch with the leaders before dropping two shots in the last three holes.
Sandelin did enjoy the fun of hitting one of the shots of the day – a six iron from 156 metres for an eagle two at the fifth, while Miguel Angel Jiménez sent a full blooded nine iron directly into the hole at the ninth, also for an eagle two.
In the race for the Volvo Order of Merit, Number One Retief Goosen and his nearest rival, Darren Clarke, both shot 68s while American John Daly, the BMW International Open champion, carded a 71.
