Rookie Brier takes first day honours

Austrian rookie Markus Brier produced an outstanding putting performance on Thursday to earn a one-stroke lead in the opening round of the Madrid Open.

Brier's seven-birdie seven-under-par 64 included putts of 40 and 30 feet and four around the 18 to 20 feet mark as he threatened to go one better than his runner-up place in the Spanish Open earlier in the season.

Current European number two Darren Clarke, bidding to regain first place in the rankings, looked as though he would be outclassed by the Viennese before he put his game together to finish only two behind.

Brier's exhilarating display would have earned him the newly-revamped Club de Campo course record by a stroke, but preferred lies prevented him putting Austria in the game's record books.

He is the first Austrian to hold a full tour card and Brier is determined to make his debut year pay off, once again mounting a challenge in Spain.

"When I got to the course I thought how much it looked like Catalunya where I was second," said Brier. "So I came into the tournament with a good attitude.

"Then today I changed my routine on the greens, just relaxing instead of trying to pick out lines to a millimetre and rolling the ball with a nice easy stroke.

"It was a hot putter but a very relaxed one."

He leads local favourite Santiago Luna by a stroke, while Clarke was well in contention after fighting back with a 66 to share third place with defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain and Zimbabwe's Tony Johnstone.

Luna carded seven birdies with only one blemish and Clarke showed the sort of form which defeated Tiger Woods earlier in the year as he recovered from eight shots off the lead by the sixth with six birdies in 12 holes.

"I wasn't quite firing on all cylinders," said Clarke, "but I got my act together at the seventh and played very well from then on."

Jimenez produced an admirable defence by also collecting seven birdies, but dropped two shots.

Johnstone, who has nicknamed himself 'Lawrence of Arabia' because of his skill in bunkers, was delighted to discover he could putt again, too, after playing with a club nearly twice his age.

The 44-year-old was again in despair after indifferent form in the Alfred Dunhill Cup last week but was offered a 1920 'George Nichol Pin-Splitter' by an American studying at St Andrews University.

Johnstone has only borrowed the veteran putter but the loan may last some time if his stroke continues its transformation.

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