Paul Waring builds on promising Open Championship finish

Jul 25 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

PAUL WARING built on his promising finish to the Open Championship when he returned to European Tour action yesterday.

The Wirral golfer secured a top 20 finish at Royal Birkdale in his first appearance at a major last week.

And an opening 69 left him four shots off the lead in the first round of the Inteco Russian Open.

For Southport’s Lee Slattery – who missed the Open on his doorstep last week – it was a case of recovering from disappointment and he also played his way into contention with a promising 70.

But it was a rare albatross that helped Sweden’s Joakim Backstrom to claim a share of the lead.

Starting from the 10th hole at Le Meridien Moscow Country Club, Backstrom had already birdied the 12th and 14th when he holed his second shot to the 561-yard par-five 15th.

“It was a four iron from 233 yards,” Backstrom said after two bogeys and four more birdies completed a round of 65, seven under par.

“I hit it well and it pitched on the green and then disappeared, but the people sitting around the green didn’t really react.

“They gave me a clap, but not the kind of reaction that you would expect for an albatross so I wasn’t sure what happened. But when I walked up to the green it was there in the hole. Thank you very much! It was a great start, five under after six holes.”

Backstrom has made just two cuts in his last 10 events and added: “I have to be honest and say that I have been playing rubbish, so anything in red numbers is great for me, and to shoot seven under is perfect.

“I have just been struggling with every part of the game. It seems that one week I can’t putt, then the next week I can’t hit my irons.”

Backstrom’s early clubhouse target was matched later in the day by fellow Swede Fredrik Henge, Finland’s Roope Kakko and England’s David Carter.

Carter partnered Nick Faldo to victory for England in the World Cup in New Zealand in 1998, the same year he won the Irish Open.

But the 36-year-old has struggled to reproduce that form since and lost his card at the end of 2007 after finishing 172nd on the money list.

In six events this season he has made just one halfway cut but produced a flawless round yesterday, going out in 34 and then firing five birdies in a row from the first.

John Daly was five shots off the lead after recovering from a poor start to return an opening 70, two under par.

And former world tennis number one Yevgeny Kafelnikov returned an 89.