Golf: Wrong ball rattles Campbell

LOCH LOMOND: It's a case of when it rains, it just pours as Michael Campbell will attest after shooting 80 on the opening day of the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

The New Zealander was the first player to tee off in the £3 million ($6.7 million) event and after a bizarre incident at the sixth hole where he played the wrong ball, the former US Open champion ended the first day in second-last position.

Campbell was one-over after five holes when he was unable to locate an errant drive down the 572m par-five sixth, and walked back to the tee to play another ball.

But in digging into his bag, Campbell pulled out a Callaway ball of a different compression and weight to the one he had teed off with.

It meant an immediate two-stroke penalty, but Campbell didn't realise his error until he had putted in for a triple-bogey eight.

"When I grabbed a second ball out of my bag I thought at the time it was a little lighter," he said.

"But then I noticed after I putted out it was different."

Of the 40 balls Campbell had in his golf bag, he pulled out the one different from the 39 others.

"I couldn't believe it and it's something I've never done before in all my years as a professional, but then that's the rules of golf," he said.

"It's our job to uphold the integrity of the game and that's the most important thing.

"But I have to be honest and say it really rattled me."

The quintuple bogey saw Campbell drop to six-over, and he was soon seven-over when he dropped a shot at the par-three eighth hole.

However Campbell managed to birdie the 11th.

It was the seventh occasion in 22 rounds of European Tour competition this season that Campbell had recorded 80 or higher.

Compatriot Mark Brown birdied two of his closing three holes in a one-under 71 while Danny Lee's round started horribly when he triple-bogeyed his opening hole, the par-four 10th, before signing for a round of three-over 74.

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke holed a testing 2m putt in steady rain at the last to finish with a one-stroke lead after carding a five-under 66.

- NZPA