England’s Lee Westwood equalled the lowest score of his career when he fired a brilliant 11 under par 61 in the opening round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof, to hold a four shot lead from Denmark’s Sǿren Hansen, who shot 65.
English duo Nick Dougherty and Simon Dyson, who were paired together, each shot 66 to also be tied second, while America’s John Daly, Sweden’s Niclas Fasth, Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, England's Simon Khan and South African Richard Sterne are all tied on five under par after each shot 67.
Yet the first day of the elite 78 man field event, which includes 27 European Tour winners, fully belonged to Westwood, who tasted victory for the first time in four years when he won the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia in May.
Early starter Westwood, out in the third group, had ten birdies and an eagle in his round as the 34 year old once more found Germany to his liking. His previous best score of 61 as a professional came in 1998 at the Deutsche-Bank SAP Open.
Nearly a decade on, Westwood revealed he had sought out an old friend, from his putter collection at home, and duly rediscovered his putting touch, in devastating style.
“I’ve always putted well with a mallet putter and I went to garage at home on Sunday night after getting back from Switzerland, sifted through a few and picked one out that felt nice and sat nice,” said Westwood.
“My putting’s been dreadful for most of the year, and it was starting to irritate me, because I’ve had chances to win both of the last two tournaments. I was ninth at Gleneagles and sixth at Crans. But I made more putts today outside of 15 feet than I have in the past two weeks, so that shows how bad I’ve been putting. Today, I holed a few and when you do, the hole looks bigger,” he added.
Westwood, past champion of the Deutsche-Bank Championship and BMW International Open, continued: “The Mercedes-Benz is the only one of the tournaments in Germany that I’ve not won, so of course it’d be nice to add it to my list of career wins. But it’s only the first day and there are three rounds to go. Having said that, I’m very pleased to get off to such a quick start. The greens are the best I’ve putted on for a long time.”
Denmark’s Sǿren Hansen was delighted with his performance, particularly in the company of Daly and tournament host, Bernhard Langer. An eagle at the 15th and a 15 feet birdie at the 18th were among the highlights of a bogey-free card.
Hansen said: “It’s good for my morale and confidence to play with players like Bernhard and John, and if I can keep playing the same as I did today, and the last few months, then who knows what is going to happen.
“I’m playing really well – I was third at Gleneagles – and I’m knocking on the door of a win. I’m hoping it will open and that it will happen eventually, maybe here.
“But I have a bit of ground to catch up when a guy like Lee can go out and shoot 11 under par. That’s a fantastic score. I played really well today – I can’t put my finger on any reason why – but I am still four behind.”
England’s Nick Dougherty was another player similarly impressed by Westwood’s round.
He said: ““We saw Lee at various stages, so knew what he was doing, but to get that score on a course where the flags are difficult to attack, is a phenomenal round of golf. I birdied the ninth and as I walked off I said to Dys’, ‘I’m eight behind.’ Ten minutes later it was nine. Lee was brilliant.
“It doesn’t change my approach to the tournament, knowing I’ve played that well but am still five behind. I played fairly aggressively today. Without being silly, there are so many birdie opportunities out there that you can make ground up on people, but if Lee keeps playing like that he’s going to be extremely tough to beat.”
Dougherty said of his own round: “It’s great to get off to a flyer, because I’ve had two weeks off and it normally takes me a round or two, or even a tournament, to get going again. But I was very optimistic coming here because it is a course I’ve played so well on in the past. A 66 and second is a fantastic start.
“I think the golf course suits my way of playing golf and there are certain events where you end up with lots of birdie opportunities, and this seems to be one of those courses for me. I have a liking for it.
“Two years ago I pursued the Seve Trophy position in this event, and missed out winning here by one to Retief Goosen. I had a putt on the last to get into a play-off. I’ve had some good results here – a second, a third and sixth – and I’ve only played it four times."
On his tussle with his friend Dyson, Dougherty added: “I enjoyed playing with Simon. He’s one of the best players on the European Tour now and it’s always nice to knock heads with someone who I like, and also like to compete against. It was quite a feisty one today, and hopefully we’ll have more of the same tomorrow.”
Dyson, who won The KLM Open in 2006, said: “Both Nick and I played good today and we have just got to do exactly the same, not change anything, the same clubs off the tees, hitting it away from the flags when you have to and taking your medicine so that is about it.
“You can only watch and admire when someone shoots 11 under. Me and Nick have had a fantastic day out there and take Lee away and we are nearly the leader. Obviously he had been playing well for a while now and is always capable of doing something like that. We are five behind but it is early doors.”
There is no re-draw for the second round, or a 36-hole cut.
