Golf: Campbell leads Kiwi trio thanks to assured putting display

New Zealand golfer Michael Campbell took a leaf from the book of Seve Ballesteros to card a two-under 69 in the opening round of the European Masters in Switzerland yesterday.

Ballesteros, long known for his remarkable scrambling skills, redesigned the Crans-sur-Sierre course some years back.

And Campbell managed to save par from parts of the course yesterday that would have done the Spaniard proud.

His 69 contained five birdies and three bogeys as he sat in equal 37th, seven strokes behind Australian Brett Rumford.

Danny Lee shot 71 and Mark Brown, the third New Zealander in the field, a 72.

Campbell had his caddie Peter Coleman guessing on a number of occasions after managing to hit just six of 13 fairways and 11 of 18 greens in regulation.

But once on the green, Campbell was in command as he required just 24 putts.

"It was a pretty good scrambling round out there today so to finish in red figures is not too bad," Campbell said.

An example of Campbell's errant manner was his tee shot at the par-five ninth.

He hit his drive into trees and his second shot was directed down the adjoining first fairway. Campbell used a rescue club for his third which ended up to the left of the green, chipped on for his fourth and holed for par.

There was also nothing routine about Lee's level par 71, with the 19-year-old producing a mixture of seven birdies, three bogeys and a pair of double bogeys.

- NZPA