Poulter makes solid start
England’s Ian Poulter flew the flag for Europe early on in the opening round of the £3m (€4.3m) Verizon Heritage Classic at Hilton Head Island.
The Ryder Cup star carded a two-under-par 69 to lie six shots off the lead set by American Vaughn Taylor.
Poulter showed no ill effects from missing last week’s Masters – having dropped out of the world’s top 50 – with a bogey-free opening nine of 33.
A birdie at the par-four third was followed with a four at the 530-yard fifth and the short par-four ninth provided the Milton Keynes golfer with the chance to pick up another shot.
His only bogey came at the 436-yard 11th but he played regulation golf for the remainder of his round to post his name on an American-dominated leaderboard.
Taylor’s eight-under-par round of 63 began inauspiciously as, starting from the 10th, he carded five straight pars before his day burst into life with four successive birdies to turn in 31.
A bogey-five at the first hole appeared to have ended that run but he bounced back to register five birdies in eight holes – finishing at the ninth by hitting his 138-yard approach to seven feet.
It gave him a one-stroke lead over compatriot Jim Furyk, who had a flawless round which included seven birdies.
Scoring was not so easy for some of the other big names in the field, with world number five Ernie Els managing only a level-par round of 71 – which included an eagle-three at the 502-yard second – while defending champion Peter Lonard had two birdies and two bogeys in registering the same score.
Ireland’s Paul McGinley was also level par through 16 holes, with Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell parring his opening three.
