Rumford off to solid start at European Masters

BY iseekgolf.com | European PGA Tour | 2002 Omega European Masters | Round One | 06 Sep 2002

Robert Karlsson posted a -6 (65) to claim the first round lead of the Omega European Masters in Switzerland. A group of three players including Nick Faldo, Mathias Groenberg and Paul Lawrie, closed the day with 66 a piece, while another five players including West Australian, Brett Rumford, finished their rounds at -4 (67).

Nick Faldo has an added incentive to play well this week, with entries into the forthcoming World Golf Championships – American Express Championship coming from players inside the Top 20 of the European Volvo Order of Merit.

2002 British Open champion, Ernie Els, bogeyed the final hole to open his account with a -1 (70) and he sits in a 22-way tie for 27th place. Els is aware that fellow South African, Retief Goosen is now only US$450,000 behind him on the European moneylist, and with a first prize of US$250,000 on offer this week, a win by Goosen could seriously challenge Els’ top money ranking.

Stephen Leaney follows Rumford as the best of the ANZ group this week, with an opening round of -3 leaving him in a tie for 10th place at -3. Peter Fowler and Scott Gardiner are another two strokes back at -1 (T27).

Round One – ANZ Scoreboard (Par 71)
T5 -4 Brett Rumford
T10 -3 Stephen Leaney
T27 -1 Peter Fowler
T27 -1 Scott Gardiner
T49 Even Michael Campbell
T62 1 Jarrod Moseley
T87 2 Stephen Scahill
T106 3 Peter Senior
T106 3 Greg Turner
T125 4 Nick O’Hern
T135 5 Lucas Parsons