Wales pair on form
Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge played the first nine holes in a better-ball 30 to put Wales only one behind surprise early leaders Paraguay when golf’s World Cup began at Vilamoura on Portugal’s sunny Algarve today.
Dodd, making his debut in an event where the first prize is nearly £400,000 (€588,500) per man, and Dredge, playing for the fourth year in a row and with his third partner, each had three birdies.
But in the group behind them Marco Ruiz, ranked only 448th in the world, birdied the second and eagled the 566-yard third before watching team-mate Carlos Franco birdie four of the next five holes.
Scots Stephen Gallacher and Scott Drummond were off to a flying start at well.
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.
At five under they were joint third with India, two behind the Paraguayans, who famously beat them in the Dunhill Cup at St Andrews a decade ago.
Defending champions England – represented this year by Luke Donald and David Howell instead of Donald and Paul Casey – were in the last group of the day and began with a par four, while Ireland's Padraig Harrington birdied the first two holes as he and Paul McGinley set off in a bid to repeat their 1997 victory.
Harrington has had an exhausting recent schedule, flying from Atlanta to Shanghai last week and then stopping off in London on his return to Europe for a lesson with coach Bob Torrance. It seemed to have done the trick.
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, after Johnson matched Harrington’s two-birdie start, Cink added another on the third.
