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Singh and Green lead Irish Open as home stars struggle

15/05/2008

Australian Richard Green and India's Jeev Milkha Singh both carded opening rounds of six-under-par 66 to claim the lead at the Irish Open at Adare Manor.

Milkha Singh carded a round which had no bogeys and he had a run of four birdies and 528-yard eagle on the seventh hole. He was close to dropping a shot on the 9th hole, but he managed to putt a par from ten yards of the hole.

Green also had a solid round which got off to an excellent start as he birdied four of the first seven holes, he added three more birdies in the last five holes to claim a share of the lead.

Welshman Bradley Dredge, who lost the title on a play-off last year, is next on the leader-board after he ended the round on four-under-par.

But it was a round to forget for the rest of the British golfers. Defending champion Padraig Harrington could only manage a round of 72 on a day when only two Irish golfers managed to make par. Peter Lawrie shot a one-under-par 71 while Rory McIlroy finished on two-under-par.

Home favourite Darren Clarke finished on level-par 72, but he was less than pleased with the way the course played.

"The course was ridiculously difficult this afternoon. It was disappointing," said Clarke. "It's a fantastic design and then you have new tees and all of a sudden we are hitting three-irons to flags that are completely inaccessible.

"It takes all the fun away and it takes the ability to shoot a good score away. People come in to watch us make birdies and unfortunately that's just not happening.

"The greens are rock hard. They are designed to be hit by much shorter clubs than we were having to hit."