England’s Benn Barham got by with a little help from his friend as he took the lead at the first round of the Peugeot Challenge R.C.G El Prat, carding an opening score of four under par 68 to lead Spain’s Francisco Cea and Lee James of England by a single stroke at the new, Greg Norman designed Real Club de Golf El Prat in Barcelona.
Barham has enlisted the help of an old Spanish friend, Jaime, to carry his bag this week, and leaned on his caddie’s local knowledge of the Real Club de Golf El Prat to engineer an excellent opening round.
His 68 was all the more impressive given the fact that the 29 year old was two over par after six holes after taking a double bogey at the par three sixth. He went onto recover beautifully, picking up an eagle, five birdies and dropping just one more shot en route to his four under par first round.
Barham has recently changed coaches, and the work he has been doing with newly appointed Matt Belsham is coming to fruition as the Challenge Tour season moves into full swing.
“That’s a good start,” said Barham. “The work that I have been doing with Matt recently is really making a difference. We have been working on different technical aspects of my game for the past month or so and I think I’m making progress.
“I have also calmed down a bit on the course. I used to get quite upset when I played a bad shot or things didn’t go my way on the course, but that was no good for my game – or my blood pressure!
“Having Jaime caddieing for me also helped a lot today. He really helped me to take it easy and kept me focused on every shot.”
Cea was another player focusing on every shot – certainly far more than when he last played at the Real Club de Golf El Prat, in a Spanish Golf Federation event when he carded an 85.
The 31 year old, who defeated Sergio Garcia to become the Spanish Amateur Champion in 1995, started his round at the tenth and went to the turn in one over par before a flawless front nine saw him pick up four shots and slot in just one stroke behind Barham at the top of the leaderboard.
“I am happy today – I have to be because I played 19 shots less than I did the last time that I played here! This course can cause you a lot of stress because you can hit a lot of good shots but get no reward, but I concentrated well today and recovered well.”
James, the Challenge Tour Number One in 2002, joined Fea in a tie for second place after his own 69, the highlight of which was an eagle three at the par five first hole (his tenth of the day) where he hit a delicious two iron approach to 15 feet before rolling the putt home.
“I played average today,” said James. “I didn’t feel that I hit the ball that well, I had some good shots but I think average is the best way to describe it. I thought the course was excellent though – probably the best that we have played on so far this season.”
Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey – currently eighth on the Challenge Tour Rankings – is in a tie for fourth place on two under par alongside Italy’s Alessandro Napoleoni and Tino Schuster of Germany, with a further five players a further shot back.
