Montgomerie shares first day lead

Colin Montgomerie, here lining up a putt on the 1st, shares the overnight lead after a first round 67 Allsport.

Seven times European number one Colin Montgomerie shot a five-under-par 67 to share the early lead in the European Open at the K Club on Thursday.

The 37-year-old Scot used his new Callaway ball to great effect, capturing an eagle on the 18th to go with five birdies.

Argentine Angel Cabrera and Italy's Massimo Scarpa also shot rounds of 67.

Back-to-back bogeys around the middle of his incoming nine denied Montgomerie the outright lead, but the reigning European number one shrugged off those two mishaps to highlight his more relaxed attitude.

He was using his club manufacturer's ball for the first time and looking for good results.

Montgomerie has spent some weeks testing the ball ahead of the most important period of the season which climaxes with the British Open two tournaments after the European.

The ball responded perfectly at the 18th, his ninth hole, where he hit 265 yards with a three-wood second shot to eight feet for the eagle three.

Encouraged by the feat he ran in four birdies after the turn before dropping the two shots, but climbed back on top of the leaderboard with another birdie three holes from home.

"I would not have gone for the shot on 18 if I didn't have the confidence of knowing I can hit the new ball a lot further," said Montgomerie. "That was maximum distance for me. I won't hit a better shot than that."

The Scot underlined how he has decided not to be so hard on himself by jokingly pretending to throw the European order of merit over his shoulder, declaring it was not something that worried him any more.

Britain's Darren Clarke, the leading prize-money winner on the European PGA Tour by just over 400,000 dollars, trailed Montgomerie by five strokes after a 72.

The second-placed prize-money winner, Britain's Lee Westwood, was just beginning his round when the pair came in.

Instead, it was lightweight Scarpa and the burly Cabrera running the Scot hard for top place.

Scarpa, who began as a lefthander before switching but who still carries two lefthanded wedges, bogeyed the last to spoil his chances of taking the outright lead.

The Italian also bogeyed the last at Ballybunion last week when equalling the course record of 63. His late dropped shot last week prevented him sharing the nine-hole European Tour record of 27 strokes.

Scarpa injured his wrist for the second time in his career earlier this season in Brazil and has had to play through the pain.

"In 1997 when I had the wrist injury I had to play with pain or I would never have got back to playing," he said. "This year has been the same, but the wrist is nearly better now."

Cabrera, still to win on tour, finished second last year in the Irish Open and sixth in this event. He was 10th in last week's Irish Open.

"I like this course and I like Ireland," said the Argentine, "and I hope I will be liking it even more this week. If I can get my putter going I'll not be far away from my first win."

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