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McDowell steals Open lead

20/07/2006

A British player holds the lead on day one of the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool after Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell shot a six-under-par 66.

His late showing, which included a string of three birdies at the turn, crucially did not include a single dropped shot, giving him a one-stroke lead over the mid-afternoon leaders.

Two Englishmen, Greg Owen and Anthony Wall, had sat in the clubhouse by 16:00 BST after carding five-under-par rounds of 67.

While Owen only dropped one shot on his way round the Hoylake course, Wall had a more erratic round – with two eagles on the par-five tenth and 16th holes to even out two bogeys on the 11th and 17th.

The fast-running greens and fairways of the Hoylake course resulted in conservative play on much of the course, in part contributing to the large group of players within two strokes of the lead.

At least 11 players will begin their second round tomorrow on four-under-par, including early leader SK Ho, an erratically putting Sergio Garcia and an in-form Ernie Els. The latter came within inches of a spectacular hole-in-one after placing his tee shot within three inches of the hole on the 198-yard 13th.

Phil Mickelson, winner of this year's Masters and frustrated loser of the PGA tournament, looked good on three-under-par but Colin Montgomerie, who still has yet to win a major after an equally disastrous error on the final hole of the PGA, putted badly to card a one-over-par 73.

Two-time winner Tiger Woods remains favourite to win this year's tournament. After recovering from a dropped shot on the first with a birdie on the par five fourth, the 30-year-old winner of ten majors hit four birdies before sensationally eagling the last to join the four-under-par group overnight.

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