Lucky escape for Lehman
American Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman had to dash to the first tee to avoid a two-stroke penalty in the third round of the Smurfit European Open at the K Club near Dublin today.
On an inspection trip ahead of next September’s match against Europe at the course, Lehman made the halfway cut with two shots to spare at two over par.
But he was on the putting green a minute before he was due to play and had to have it pointed out to him that his tee-off time was 10.17am. Apparently he thought it was 10.27.
At the French Open last week, Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima incurred the penalty for being late.
In fact, Lima was only 65 seconds away from being disqualified for being five minutes late.
While Lehman opened with a par four, New Zealander Michael Campbell appeared to be celebrating the All Blacks’ Test victory over the Lions. The new US Open champion, a Maori and former schoolboy rugby union scrum-half, had three birdies in his first four holes and at one under par had moved into a share of 18th place. He began the day joint 45th.
Colin Montgomerie improved his position too, going to the turn in a two-under 33 after squeezing into the final two rounds at four over.
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