Wales still leading World Cup
Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge opened golf’s World Cup in sunny Portugal today with a superb better-ball 61 for Wales.
Dodd, making his debut in an event where the first prize is nearly £400,000 (€588,500) per man, had five birdies and Dredge, playing for the fourth year in a row and with his third partner, six to set the clubhouse target for the rest of the 24-team field.
But it looked a target well within range for a number of sides on a day of spectacular scoring.
Indians Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal were also 11 under par and had four holes still to play, while defending champions England, represented this year by Luke Donald and David Howell rather than Donald and Paul Casey, raced to the turn in a spectacular nine-under-par 27 to be only two behind.
Howell, who last Sunday beat Tiger Woods in Shanghai for the best win of his career, hit a three-wood to five feet for an eagle at the third and had three birdies, while Donald picked up the mood with a four on the long fifth and finished the outward half with a hat-trick of birdies.
When Howell added another birdie at the 406-yard 10th with a 15-foot putt they were third on their own and only one behind.
Scots Stephen Gallacher and Scott Drummond were six under and joint 10th with two holes remaining, but Irish pair Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley had a lot more ground to make up.
Harrington birdied the first two holes and McGinley the third as they set off in a bid to repeat their 1997 victory.
But after five pars in a row they bogeyed the 442-yard ninth. McGinley was behind a tree off the tee and when his second shot rebounded he had to take evasive action and then march back down the fairway.
That put the burden on Harrington, but he missed the green and failed to get up and down. Out in only a two under 34 left them joint last, but Harrington did at least start the inward half with a birdie.
Gallacher had four birdies in the opening six holes and his partner Drummond, playing because Colin Montgomerie turned down the tournament for the sixth year in a row to play in Japan instead, made a 15-footer on the long third.
But there was a big setback for them when neither could par the long 12th.
Highlight of the Welsh duo’s front nine was Dodd’s approach to the 456-yard seventh. With Dredge not on the green in two the shot hit the flagstick and came down right by the hole side for a tap-in birdie.
With the eight leading Americans having turned down the chance Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson flew the Stars and Stripes and they were alongside the Scots on six under after 11.
