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McGinley, Orr lead in Netherlands

FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD:
-6 P McGinley (Ire), G Orr (Sco) -5 J Campillo (Spa), D Clarke (NIre), Pe Lawrie (Ire), M Millar (Aus) (US) -4 J Donaldson (Wal), B Dredge (Wal), K Ferrie (Eng), I Garrido (Spa), P Hedblom (Swe), Pa Lawrie (Sco), S Lowry (Ire), W Ormsby (Aus), P Price (Wal), C Macaulay (Sco) Selected others: +6 C Montgomerie (Sco)


Paul McGinley
Three-time Ryder Cup star McGinley last won on Tour in 2005

Ireland's Paul McGinley and Scotland's Gary Orr both fired first-round 64s to lead the KLM Open by one shot at Kennemer Golf Club in the Netherlands.

The duo led at six under from Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, Ireland's Peter Lawrie, Spain's Jorge Campillo and Australia's Matthew Millar.

Jamie Donaldson, Bradley Dredge and Shane Lowry were in a group four under.

Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie crashed to a six-over 76 and is in danger of a third straight missed cut.

The leaders played in calm early conditions on the coastal course near Zandvoort, but Montgomerie was among those to struggle in stronger afternoon winds.

Without a top-10 finish for almost 14 months, Montgomerie ended the day near the rear of a field which does not contain a single member of the world's top 50.

It's wonderful to play on an old-fashioned course where it's important to hit the fairway

Paul McGinley

While the eight-time European number one faces the prospect of another spare weekend, McGinley, the captain of the Britain and Ireland side in next month's Vivendi Trophy, has high hopes of re-igniting his career.

The 42-year-old has also fallen outside the world's top 200 and is a lowly 130th on this year's money list.

"The season's been flat," said McGinley, runner-up to Clarke on the same course 12 months ago. "I've not played well enough - no excuses."

McGinley was seven under and three clear after 12 holes, having already made five birdies and a 20-foot eagle putt.

But the three-time Ryder Cup star bogeyed the short 8th, his 17th, and Orr caught him by also playing the back nine in 30.

"The game is moving very much into a power game so it's wonderful to play on an old-fashioned course where it's important to hit the fairway," said McGinley.

"It's not surprising that Gary Orr, Darren Clarke and I do well here. We grew up on courses like this."

Orr, also 42, last won in 2000 and has been plagued by back problems which led to him losing his card in 2004 and 2007.

He played the first nine events of 2008 on a medical exemption but earned enough to retain his card and finished joint second in the European Open in May.

At 129th in the world he is now Scotland's highest-ranked player - nearly 100 places ahead of Montgomerie.

"I've been playing pretty well lately, just not making enough putts," said Orr. "I've thrown a few bad rounds in here and there, but I've done a bit of work over the past few weeks, and it seems to be working."

Clarke grabbed seven birdies and felt he would have been out in front but for "a couple of stupid schoolboy errors".



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