Darren Clarke shot a level-par 72 on day one of the Principal Charity Classic, but the low scoring means that he’s well down the field.
The 2011 Open champion reeled off 15 straight pars before a bogey at the 16th moved him the wrong side of par. He responded with a birdie on the last to get back to level par, but overall it was a disappointing opening round for the Dungannon man and he’ll need to go extremely low in the second round if he’s to have any chance of being a factor on Sunday.
Ernie Els was in complete control of his game as he reeled off 10 birdies in his bogey-free round of 62 to take a two-stroke lead at the end of day one. The ‘Big Easy’ birdied six of the opening nine holes to go out in 30 and the 59 watch was on.
Pars on 10 and 11 cooled that, but he still managed to pick up four more on the way home and enjoys a two-stroke lead over Ricardo Gonzales who made six birdies and an eagle, Stephen Ames and Vijay Singh who each birdied eight of the 18 to all shoot 64.
Rod Pampling, Billy Mayfair and Rob Labritz all lie tied for fifth at -7.
Leave a comment