Karlsson takes narrow opening lead

Robert Karlsson overhauled early leader Nick Faldo with a 6-under-par 65 on Thursday to take a one-stroke, first-round lead in the European Masters.

The 33-year-old Swede played his second nine, the front nine on the 6,857-yard course in the Swiss mountains, in 31, five under, and birdied his last hole from 20 feet to snatch the outright lead.

Faldo shot 66 earlier and was tied for second place with former British Open champion Paul Lawrie and Mathias Gronberg of Sweden.

Sunday's BMW International winner Thomas Bjorn was in a group on 69 after a round of 16 pars and two birdies. He said he suffered on the greens, which were soft after heavy rain earlier in the week.

The two other European Ryder Cup players in the field for the match in three weeks time, Phillip Price and Lee Westwood, shot 69 and 71 respectively.

British Open champion Ernie Els bogeyed his last hole for a 70, one under par.

Karlsson, who almost qualified for the 1999 Ryder Cup team, has had a lean time lately after changing coaches, but feels his recent play has been better than his scoring.

He prospered on the widely-criticised, upturned bowl-shaped greens, needing just 24 putts in his round.

"I went for the pins. Sometimes you can spin back off the greens but I felt that was the only way to make any birdies," he said. The greens were re-designed by Seve Ballesteros in 1999.

"They are not great. I think they are unfair," Karlsson said.

"It was more fun to play the course before. Okay, it was easy but let the players shoot low scores."

Karlsson made two other 20-footers in his round and four from eight feet.

Faldo, the 45-year-old winner of three U.S. Masters and three British Open titles, has an immediate goal of getting into the top-20 on the European Order of Merit to qualify for the Amex Championship in Ireland in two weeks. He is currently 21st.

In recent years he has been a shadow of the player he used to be, the nadir coming after last year's British Open at Royal Lytham, where he missed the halfway cut.

"I was arguing with people. Should I quit? Give me one good reason why I should go on. Shouldn't I just go off and design golf courses?" he recalled asking at that time.

"But it's in me. I'm not a giver-upper. I'm not going to give in," he said.

So he recommitted himself and changed his practice routines to make them more about quality than quantity.

"Back in the mid-80s, when I was changing my swing, I hit 1,500 balls a day. Now I try to make it 100 maximum," he said.

Els, who started at the 10th, bogeyed the 18th and the 9th, his last. Both are par-5s.

At the 632-yard 9th, he faced a third shot of 64 yards. "I was looking at birdie, then the ball pitches five feet from the hole and ends up in the bunker. Guess I got unlucky," he said.

American Craig Stadler, the winner back in 1985, shot 71 and was beaten by one shot by his 22-year-old son Kevin, who is playing in his second pro event after winning his first, the Colorado Open, at the weekend.

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