Els takes opening day honours with 64

Ernie Els shot an eight-under par 64, equalling his personal best for the course, in the first round of the Volvo PGA Championship on Thursday.

Els collected eight birdies, one of them a 35-foot pitch-in, with no dropped shots, and only missed a share of the West Course record by three-putting the long par-five fourth.

Spain's in-form player Miguel Angel Jimenez, already with three European Tour wins this season, shot a 65 to share second place with 2004 Madeira Island winner Christopher Hanell of Sweden and Stephen Dodd of Britain.

World number two Vijay Singh, who could be overtaken by Els in the rankings if the South African wins the tournament, birdied three of the last four holes, to finish on 66 and alone in fifth.

Both Els and Singh are edging closer to world number one Tiger Woods, who has led the rankings since 1999, though Els said overtaking the American was not one of his major ambitions.

"I don't think it's my ultimate goal, which is to win major championships, but I'm definitely starting to feel I'm taking another step forwards in my career," Els said after he equalled his best score at Wentworth, where he owns a house.

"In '97 and '98 I had it for a while but I feel I'm a different player now.

"The next couple of years are going to be interesting. If we keep on playing the way we've been playing it's going to be close.

"I don't think that big gap that Tiger has had is going to happen for a while again."

Singh, who started in the afternoon and watched Els tear up the course in the morning, said he was expecting the South African to play well.

"I'm eight shots back just starting, but he knows the course so well, I wasn't expecting less," said Singh after making six birdies. "I just thought if I start chasing him then I'm probably going to have a miserable day.

"But you can not win on the first day. Your turn is going to come. I can shoot a low number in the next three days."

Seven-times European number one Colin Montgomerie, who needs a top finish this week to return to the top-50 in the world and qualify automatically for next month's U.S. Open, had an impressive run in after bogeys on the third and fourth.

He chipped in at the 12th for birdie and then holed out with a four-iron second shot from 194 yards for an eagle-two at the par-four 13th, before birdies on the last two holes for a 70.

Fellow-Briton Darren Clarke's finish was also spectacular, with birdies on six of the last seven holes to lie only four shots off the lead on a four-under 68.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page