Detour for jet-propelled Gers fans

warren and forsyth have final plans after former mounts challenge in the italian open

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Scots golfers Marc Warren and Alastair Forsyth are not going to let next week’s Irish Open keep them away from Rangers’ Uefa Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester on Wednesday night.

The pair have made plans to hire the jet used by Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke so they can practise at Adare Manor, near Limerick, fly to Manchester for the game and then back again for the first round of the tournament the following day.

“They haven’t actually given us the price of it, so that could be a bit of a stumbling block,” said Warren. “But Alastair’s won a few bob in recent weeks, so I am sure he can afford it.”

Forsyth won the Madeira Island Open in March and lost a play-off in Portugal last month, but it was only last November that Warren won the World Cup with Colin Montgomerie and earned more than £390,000 himself. He is also the more likely to cash-in at this week’s Italian Open. While he opened with a seven-under-par 65 and shared the early lead with England’s Mark Foster, Forsyth managed only a 74.

England’s Ross McGowan equalled the lowest round of his brief European Tour career to share the lead after the first round in Milan.

The 26-year-old from Surrey, who has already made it into the world’s top 100 in the early stages of this his first full season, returned a 64 to be alongside Paraguay’s Marco Ruiz.

On a day of low scoring American John Daly bounced back from his missed cut at last week’s Spanish Open with a 67, while Ryder Cup hopeful Nick Dougherty, playing just two days after his mother’s funeral, managed a 71. Runner-up on the Challenge Tour after two wins last year, 2006 English amateur champion McGowan had four successive birdies from the 13th as he turned in 30.

Two more birdies in his last four holes completed his day’s work and prompted playing partner and former Ryder Cup star Peter Baker to say: “That’s the best display of driving I’ve seen since Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam.”

McGowan said: “On the important holes you have to drive well, but I also holed out well from 10ft and in.”

Ruiz is ranked only 410th in the world but won in Argentina in December and was leading for a while in Seville last Sunday before slipping back to 15th.

Another Paraguayan, Fabrizio Zanotti, is also in the top 10 after a 66 and they are further examples of how a tiny golfing nation – just six courses – can still pack a punch.

Carlos Franco has won four times in America, while Julieta Granada and Celeste Troche won the women’s World Cup last year.

Press and Journal columnists Stephen Gallacher and Richie Ramsay will need to improve greatly if they want to mount a challenge.

Gallacher shot a level-par 72, with Ramsay a shot behind.