Derksen grabs early lead in Australia

2009-02-18

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PERTH, AUSTRALIA (TICKER) —Robert-Jan Derksen of Holland fired the best round of his European Tour career Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Johnnie Walker Classic.

The 35-year-old finished at 8-under-par 64, sinking eight birdies in his bogey-free round at The Vines Resort and Country Club.

“It’s a good start and it’s always nice to have, it’s as simple as that, but there’s a lot of golf to be played,” said Derksen, who has not won a tournament on the European Tour since the 2005 Madeira Island Open.

Mardan Mamat of Singapore and Australia’s Tony Carolan are a shot off the lead at 7-under.

The English pair of Lee Westwood and John Bickerton along with Ireland’s Damien McGrane carded six-under 66s to create a three-way tie for fourth.

Colin Montgomerie shot a 67 to finish the day tied for seventh with six other players including Ireland’s Peter Lawrie, New Zealand amateur leader Danny Lee and American Anthony Kang - last week’s winner at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

World No. 11 Anthony Kim registered a 68, Colombia’s Camilo Villegas eagled his final hole for a 72, and veteran Greg Norman posted a 3-over 75.

Derksen managed only one birdie on his first seven holes but reeled off four consecutive from Nos. 8-11 to move to 5-under.

The Dutchman missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the 14th but made up for that by holing a 25-footer at the next - beginning a run of three birdies over the final four holes.

Having missed the cut in Malaysia last week, Derksen was pleased with his strong opening round.

“It’s a very difficult course,” he said. “There are a lot of easy holes and I made three par-fives in two today, but if you’re slightly off, you can make some big numbers. The wind is a factor so it’s still a long way to go.”

Mamat birdied three of his last four holes and later paid credit to his caddie, Drew Dubberlin.

“I called him this week because he has lived here before and knows this course better than I do,” the 41-year-old Singaporean said. “He knows where to put the ball, the pin positions and how to read the lines. There’s less of a job for me on the golf course and I can just focus on thing the golf ball. I’m a little stubborn but I do listen to his advice.”

Westwood put himself into contention with a strong finish to the round. After some early struggles, the world No. 12 came back to birdie four of his last seven holes.

“I started off hitting a couple of poor shots, a couple of pulls and got away with one but I corrected the fault,” said the 35-year-old, who claimed that he was rolling his club a bit too much on the upswing early on.

“That’s what I’ve been good at doing the last couple of years - correcting things pretty quickly and I started hitting good shots after that and I played well for the last 12 holes.”