BMW International, first round leaderboard:
-8 B Dredge (Wal), P Whiteford (Sco) -7 C Nirat (Tha), P Price (Wal), A Canete (Arg), J Huldahl (Den) -6 P Larrazabal (Spa), Pt Lawrie (NI)
Selected others: -4 P Casey (Eng) -3 R Fisher (Eng), S Khan (Eng), Pa Lawrie (Sco) -2 E Els (SA), B Langer (Ger), C Montgomerie (Sco)-1 D Clarke (NI) +4N Faldo (Eng) +5 S Garcia (Spa)
 Dredge has won twice on the European Tour, most recently in 2006 |
Welshman Bradley Dredge carded an opening 64 to share the lead after day one of the BMW International in Munich. The 36-year-old came home in 31 after three birdies but Scot Peter Whiteford also had an eagle and six birdies in his round to join him at eight under. Ryder Cup captains past and present Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie were in a group of 22 on two under. Another ex-captain, Sir Nick Faldo, was four over but former world number two Sergio Garcia was one worse after a 77. Garcia, who was tied for 22nd in last week's US Open at Pebble Beach, has not finished in the top three for 19 months and has slipped to 36th in the rankings. He started his round at the 10th and promptly found the water surrounding the green at his second hole. A wild second to the 441-yard seventh, his 16th, left him in rough even taller than his 5ft 10 frame and after taking a penalty drop he ran up a double bogey six. The 30-year-old Spaniard birdied the short eighth with a long putt, but after just avoiding water with his second to the 557-yard ninth his pitch caught the trees and fell to a watery grave.  A disconsolate Garcia has not won a tournament since November 2008 |
He then he missed the green with his next attempt and had to hole from nine feet for a double bogey seven. Garcia's manager Carlos Rodriguez admitted his man was struggling, telling reporters: "He isn't enjoying his golf at all at the moment. It is not fun for him. "Sergio has even said that if Colin Montgomerie were willing to offer him a Ryder Cup wild card he's not sure whether he would be of any help to the European team." Playing partner Ernie Els, third at Pebble Beach last week, also saw his ball toppled into the water at the 11th, his second, but salvaged par and was four under for his round with two holes to play. However, three-times major winner Els bogeyed them both and finished two under, six shots off the pace. Dredge moved into the elite world top 50 in 2007 and played in that year's Masters at Augusta, where he finished in a share of 44th place. However, the Welshman has not won a tournament for four years and has slipped to 173 in the current rankings. "There was virtually no wind and I think it's the easiest I've played the course," Dredge said of his opening 18 holes . "I'm surprised there are not more low scores. "You always need a bit of luck. I hit some poor shots, but managed to get away with them. "I do feel my game is getting back together and it is a matter of consistency at the moment."  | 606: DEBATE |
Paul Casey, who tied 40th at the US Open, carded a late round of 68 and looked forward to playing on early morning greens on Friday having been at the end of the field on the opening day. "I gave myself so many opportunities tee to green," Casey said. "I was pretty strong. But we had had a lot of traffic on the greens and a couple of putts slipped by. "But the good news was that if I could play like that in the second round starting early when the greens will be fantastic, I will be able to take advantage of it. "These greens are very receptive and you can throw the ball very close to the hole, where at Pebble Beach it was a question of playing the ball bump and run into the greens. I was not surprised that a couple of guys coming over from the States struggled."
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