| Knokke
Le Zoute, Belgium, 1st October 1998 -New
Zealander Greg Turner boosted his President's Cup chances when he was one
of a trio of players to equal the Royal Zoute course record and share the Belgian
Open first round lead on Thursday. Swede
Robert Karlsson had set the pace in the morning with a 7-under-par 64 and
he was later joined on that mark by Turner and Briton Van Phillips. They
were one ahead of Briton Nick Faldo, the last man to win at Royal Zoute when
he took the 1994 Belgian Open title, and another Swede, Fredrik Jacobson. While
Karlsson's aim is to build up European Ryder Cup points, Turner's target is to
qualify for the International team in December against America, the biennial event
played on Ryder Cup lines. Selection
for Peter Thomson's world team, made up of players outside Europe, depends on
world rankings and Turner has an outside chance of earning one of the 10 qualifying
places. "I'm
currently 16th in the table with this event and the Volvo Masters to count,"
said Turner, continuing his late-season form after sharing second place in the
Trophée Lancôme two weeks ago. "I'll
need something really special to get into the 10 but if I don't I hope I can influence
Peter Thomson's wild-card selection if I'm playing well enough. "But
it would be nice to get in by right with a couple of good results. I seem to play
well at this time of the year. I like leaving it late. It makes Christmas that
much nicer." Faldo,
though, is talking Ryder Cup and has been since rejoining the European Tour four
tournaments ago. He is anxious to chalk up as many points as possible before returning
to America, then continuing his bid next year to avoid needing a wild-card. An
eight-birdie return heartened the 41-year-old Englishman. "It's a distant
blur trying to remember when I last had eight birdies," he said. "And
I think they went to the moon the last time I shot a 65 in the first round! "The
key was my putting. I've improved it with a technique which is ridiculously simple,
putting at a tee-peg. That narrows the target and gives you good feedback on how
accurate you are." Fellow
Englishman Lee Westwood is handily placed three shots off the lead after
a 67. A £66,660 first prize this week will take him only £45,266 behind Volvo
Ranking Order of Merit leader Colin Montgomerie, who is not playing in Belgium.
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