Sweden’s Jarmo Sandelin tamed the swirling, gusting winds amidst the mountains of Madeira to produce a flawless opening round of six under par 66 at the Madeira Island Open Caixa Geral de Depositos. His bogey free effort was, according to the man himself, the first time he had played 18 competitive holes without dropping a stroke in five years and gave the 38 year old a two shot lead over a five strong chasing pack that includes 1999 Open Champion Paul Lawrie of Scotland.
Lawrie is joined by 2004 BMW Russian Open champion Gary Emerson of England, Sweden’s Fredrik Henge, Welshman Garry Houston and Ireland’s Damien McGrane, but it was Sandelin who, playing in probably the worst conditions of the day, who shone brightest on day one.
Sandelin, a member of the 1999 Ryder Cup Team, was among the first players to tee off from the top of the mountain at the Santo da Serra Golf Club, and he re-emerged at the top of the hill five hours later having won the first of four battles with this stunning golf course that overlooks the magnificent bay of Machico.
Having started his first round from the tenth tee, Sandelin quickly got to work, picking up his first birdie of the day on the 12th after planting his pitching wedge approach to within a foot of the hole. A similar approach to the 15th, this time with a brilliant six iron, yielded another birdie before he moved on to the front nine and began his ascent back to the clubhouse.
It proved to be quite a climb as Sandelin rattled off a further four birdies to move into the lead. After signing his scorecard, the Swede spoke at length about the rollercoaster career that has, over ten years, seen him win five European Tour events (including the 1996 Madeira Island Open), represent Sweden at the World Cup and qualify for The Ryder Cup Team as well as suffering a demoralizing loss of form that took him back to The European Tour Qualifying School last November.
“I can’t remember when the last time I had a bogey free round was!” said Sandelin. “It’s amazing. I don’t think I have had one in the last five years. I have been practising good and focusing on the game a lot. I just love playing golf, it’s a great sport. What I have learned in the last five years is to take the bad days quite easily and I am still here.
“It has been very tough. We know that I won five times in the first five years and that I played the Ryder Cup and the World Cup and then I just couldn’t play golf. So it was hard, but I still have the faith that I can play golf. I am physically fit and I should be able to play good golf again – I can’t see the reason why I can’t do it.
“I have to get the fighting spirit back. When I was at the Tour School I had to play a totally different kind of game than I knew before because when you are on the line of losing your livelihood it comes to a point when you have to get a grip of it. I managed to get through the Tour School with one good round but that doesn’t change anything. If I have 100 good rounds from now on then it will change.”
With 27 players within four shots of him, Sandelin will have to continue his wonderful first round form to stand of chance of picking up his first Tour title since the 2002 BMW Asian Open.
