Argentina’s Angel Cabrera shot himself into the lead at the centenary of his home country’s National Open Championship, the Abierto Visa de la Republica presented by Bridgestone, with a first round of four under par 66 at the Jockey Club Buenos Aries in the Argentine capital.
Cabrera, who withdrew from Tiger Woods’ Target World Challenge in order to join Argentine greats Eduardo Romero and Vicente Fernandez in supporting his National Open, which is joint-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour, leads by one from fellow countryman Hernan Rey with six players sharing third place on two under.
Four of those six players are European Challenge Tour Members, namely the Danish duo of Anders S Hansen and Kasper Jorgensen, England’s Gary Lockerbie and Julien Van Hauwe of France.
Romero, the winner of eight European Tour and six Argentine PGA Championships, got the home crowds going by joining the the group of eight players on one under after the first round, but it was Cabrera who delighted the packed galleries the most.
The 36 year old started his round from the tenth tee and immediately dropped a shot before hitting back with two consecutive birdies. He steadied the ship with his first par of the day on the 14th and then followed that up with a birdie on the 15th, which helped take him to the turn in one under.
The 2005 BMW champion then moved up a gear as he crossed to the Jockey Club’s front nine, where he put together three birdies and six pars to come ‘home’ in 31 and take the outright lead.
