Accurate Archer puts himself in contention
‘Drive for show, putt for dough’ is one of golf’s oldest adages – and Phillip Archer and Colin Montgomerie would both agree it still holds true.
Archer only missed one significant putt during his first round of the Wales Open yesterday, but sadly it was the one which cost him a place in the history books.
The 34-year-old from Warrington, England had a six-foot putt on the 18th to record the first ever 59 on the European Tour at Celtic Manor, but saw it catch the edge of the hole and stay out.
A nine-under-par 60 at least eclipsed the previous course record by two shots and gave Archer a one-shot lead over Sweden’s Robert Karlsson, whose own 61 went almost unnoticed in the excitement.
Archer’s previous lowest round on tour was 65 and he finished a lowly 114th on the Order of Merit last year, but finished third in the Spanish Open and sixth in Italy seven days later earlier this season.
“I am really swinging it well but the big thing this year has been the putting,” Archer explained. “I had a good lesson with a guy called Paul Hurrion, who also works with David Howell, and that has helped my putting stats which have really come on this year.
“I was outside the top 100 before but now I am just outside the top 10 in putts per greens in regulation which has been the major thing.”
As for his round, Archer added: “I played lovely all day and just wanted to give myself a chance on the last. I thought I had it.
“It was left-edge, nice and firm, but it was just a bit too firm. The save at the 17th gave me the momentum and I hit two lovely shots down the last.
“If I was being a little hard on myself I should have tried to leave myself an uphill putt rather than downhill, but I read it perfectly and just hit it a little too hard.”
Montgomerie was three shots off the lead after a six-under 63 which ended the worst run of his career in emphatic fashion.
The eight-time Order of Merit winner, who has missed the cut in seven of his last 10 tournaments, carded seven birdies and just one bogey, which he put down to skipping Wednesday’s pro-am to get a sneak preview of the Open venue at Hoylake.
And the 42-year-old put his resurgence down to improved putting, adding: “It’s the best score for a long, long time and gives me a lot of encouragement. It’s been a poor run of form by anyone’s standards.
“It’s coming back again. It would have been easy for me not to play tournaments but perhaps this is the best way, to play my way out of this run. Being at home thinking about it, that’s not the way I’ve ever done it.
“I started to accelerate through the putter again, trying to get back to the way I putted at the Open last year, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week now.”
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