Local players dominate leaderboard

Awkward conditions and a tough course kept the scoring up at the Forest of Arden course on Thursday with a quartet of leaders, all of them English, in the British Masters first round the only ones to go under 70.

David Howell, 11th in the U.S. Masters, looked like breaking the deadlock on top but bogeyed the last for his three-under 69.

David Lynn and Ben Mason in the morning and Brian Davis, like Howell an afternoon starter, share top place, a stroke ahead of the field.

By contrast to Howell, Davis birdied the last three holes, chipping in at the last.

If Howell blotted his copybook, though, his finale was nothing compared to one of the tournament favourites, Colin Montgomerie, who triple-bogeyed the ninth, his 18th, to dive off the top of the leaderboard.

Two of the four leaders, Howell and Davis, have returned to Europe following a stint on the PGA Tour and Davis, with around $700,000 banked in America so far, is happy to juggle with both tours while looking for a home win.

Davis, whose two victories were in Spain and New Zealand, said: "I haven't seen many guys who have managed to play both tours successfully, so I've decided to play in stretches of months rather than weeks. I'm back here and I'd love to win on home soil."

Howell is in confident mood and added: "As I showed in the Masters, if I play decent golf I am going to do well."

Among eight players one off the lead is defending champion Barry Lane, whose victory in 2004 was his first for a decade.

Montgomerie seeks his third win at Forest of Arden to end any doubts about his U.S. Open place.

However, a drive into trees at the ninth, his final hole, a third shot into the greenside bunker and three putts from around two and a half feet left him signing for a 72.

The Scot was critical of slow play which meant his round took five and a half hours.

"The course was firm and when the wind gets up it's tricky but that's not a reason for being an hour too long out there," he said.

To highlight the difficulty of conditions, not one player survived a round without a dropped shot.

Tournament director Miguel Vidaor said: "It has been a very tough day at the office and the players responded to our every request to keep to our strict guidelines regarding pace of play.

"Two holes in particular, the sixth and ninth, caused the delay, with very strong headwinds."

Teenage amateur Rory McIlroy had a disappointing European Tour debut when the 16-year-old from Northern Ireland clattered to an 82 with a triple and three double-bogeys on his card.

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