Tournament News

Fraser on form for day one at The Belfry

Westwood was joined by Argentina’s Rafa Echenique, Denmark’s Anders Hansen, local hero Sam Walker and Scotland’s Marc Warren on four under, with a further seven players, including Major Champions Michael Campbell and Paul Lawrie, as well as former Quinn Insurance British Masters winner Thomas Björn, on three under.

Fraser was the first of the leaders to set the clubhouse mark of five under after a fine opening round that included seven birdies.

The Australian, a former Russian Open winner, is fresh from a two-week break back home and he certainly extolled the virtues of a trip down under with his laid-back attitude and a happy-go-lucky smile on his face.

“I got off to a good start, birdied 2 and 3 and then I hit another birdie at 5 and then birdied 8 and 9, so it was nice to turn in 5‑under,” smiled Fraser. “Then just a couple of soft bogeys on 11 and 12, just didn't get up‑and‑down. 

“I had a great couple of weeks at home, played with the dog, sit on the couch, a few barbecues, a few beers, and got a little bit of practice in there somewhere! It's always nice to go home and weather is pretty good at the moment.  It was nice to go home and see my wife as she's six months pregnant, so nice to see her and how she's coming along.  It’s all good.”

Lundberg was another Russian Open winner who played with a smile on his face. The Swede is starting to rediscover the form that brought him his second career victory in Moscow earlier this summer.

“That was fantastic considering I've been playing horrible for the last month and a half,” said Lundberg. “I'm very pleased.  I didn't play as good as the result was, but even though I didn't hit the ball that well, I hit them very straight off the tee.  I was never in trouble.  And then I hit some good iron shots and some putts so I am happy with it.”

The smile on Westwood’s face was understandable too. The Englishman could be forgiven for not knowing what fate was going to befall him on the world famous Brabazon course at The Belfry given the mental and physical exertions that he experienced at The Ryder Cup last week, but, in true Westwood style, he stood up and got his title defence off to a flying start.

“I started to feel a bit of jet lag out there with about four holes to go but that's something I expected,” said Westwood. “I still played them in 1-under but got a bit raggedy, I suppose.

“But I generally played well, hit a lot of good shots and putted nicely again. I really tried to keep the mentality from last week and take how positive and aggressive on the greens I was, looking at 30 footers and thinking about holing them rather than thinking about getting them dead.  I ran a lot of putts up to the hole today.  Some went in.  Some shaved the hole.  That was obviously a big thing from last week, the way I putted; it was good.  So I just tried to carry that on to the greens today.”

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