Lanner blitz adds to Swedish dominance

Four days after Jesper Parnevik and Jarmo Sandelin won on both sides of the Atlantic, Swedish golfers were at it again on Thursday.

Mats Lanner scored a dazzling 10-under-par 62 to take the first-round lead in the Fiat and Fila Italian Open in Turin, while compatriot Per Nyman lies joint second with England's Gary Evans following a 65.

Lanner's round, which equalled the lowest on the European Tour this season, promised to be even better.

He eagled the first hole, turned in a seven-under 29 and then had a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th - the last of them a 25-foot putt from off the green.

At 10 under with a par five to come the chance to become the first man ever to break 60 on the circuit - Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval have achieved the feat in America - was obviously there.

That hope evaporated when the 38-year-old Swede, who amazingly has missed six of his last seven halfway cuts, made 'only' a five on the 557-yard 15th and bogeyed the short 16th after missing the green.

But Lanner, who after losing his tour card in 1996 grabbed it back in dramatic style last year by winning the Madeira Island Open, sank a 10-foot putt for his ninth birdie at the 17th and was delighted with a round that was nine better than Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal and 10 better than US Open champion Lee Janzen.

He has had two other 62s in a career going back 18 years but said: "I've never shot 10 under before and after the run I've had lately that was as big a surprise to me as to everybody else. I holed basically every putt that was in sight."

Aside from the 25-foot effort he sank three 20-footers and an 18-footer to break the CircoloGolf course record by three.

At the start of last year Lanner was ready to quit if the season did not go well and took a course to be a masseur. But then came the Madeira victory - "the best day of my life golf-wise," he calls it now.

Nyman's day did not begin at all well, a taxi rushing him to the course after the lift he had arranged did not appear.

"The driver went through four or five red lights," said the 31-year-old Swede. "I didn't tell him to - I think he was driving like normal!"

He did not miss his tee-off time but had to cut short his practice and began with a bogey.

It was his only one, however, and four birdies in his last five holes gave last year's Challenge Tour runner-up his best-ever round on the main circuit.

Evans came home in 30 to catch Nyman and, having shot 64 during last week's Spanish Open, the 30-year-old from Worthing is excited about his golf again.

"Two years ago I was desperately unhappy - and short of money. But I've gone back to my old coach and a solicitor friend is looking after my career now," he said.

"All the pieces of the puzzle are in the right place for a change. I've no worries and I'm fit." A wrist injury plagued Evans' early years on the circuit.

Joint fourth following 66s are two more Englishmen, Derrick Cooper and Russell Claydon.

Cooper, just short of his 44th birthday, also fell out of love with tour life two seasons ago and contemplated giving it up and joining his wife Olive in their Coop's Crusty Cobs sandwich shop in Warrington.

"I had a long think about it and felt I should give it another go because it's such a wonderful life that it would be hard to find anything else to compare with this," he said.

"I used to get so intense it drove me mad. Now I try to relax more and I'm enjoying it again."

Cambridge heavyweight Claydon has played only 11 rounds so far this year, missing three out of four cuts prior to this week.

"At the start of the season it's longer trips for smaller money. Later on it's smaller trips for bigger money. I don't think it makes a lot of sense to play a lot early on and get tired," he said.

Janzen, playing his first European Tour event outside the Open since the 1993 Dutch Open, opened with an eagle three like Lanner, but there the comparisons ended.

"It stank," said the American, asked to sum up his level-par 72. "I drove well but didn't get my irons close enough and had two three-putts."

Janzen will probably need to improve his score to survive the halfway cut and Olazabal, who crashed out early in Barcelona last Friday, may need to as well after a 71 in which he hit only three fairways.

Seve Ballesteros, who made his first cut of the season last week, is on course to do so again following a 70.