Olazabal’s early impression in a masterly Madrid return

Spaniard shoots one-under-par 70 on comeback to be up with leaders

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It may have been three months since Jose Maria Olazabal played a competitive round of golf but he showed no signs of losing his touch as an opening one-under-par 70 at the Madrid Masters left him three shots off the lead.

The 42-year-old Spaniard has been out of the game because of injury and fatigue since narrowly failing to qualify for the Open in June but this comeback, his third during an injury-hit career, is on track.

Englishman Paul Broadhurst, Swede Magnus Carlsson and Australian Marcus Fraser are the leaders, having all shot 67s, and are hotly pursued by a cluster of five players, including French Open winner Pablo Larrazabal, who are one shot back on three under.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, who would move to third in the European Tour Order of Merit if he wins here, is one of 15 players two shots behind on two under.

Olazabal sent expectations soaring when he birdied his first hole – the 10th – and he was two under at the turn courtesy of birdies at 16 and 17 making up for a dropped shot on the 14th.

He picked up another birdie on the way back in and even two more bogeys failed to take the gloss off an impressive score.

The two-time Masters champion said: “It has been a very positive day and my score is better than I expected. I made some mistakes – I three-putted on two greens – but other parts have been very good.

“I started the 10th hole, my first, with a birdie and I thought to myself ‘This is good’. Who would believe that after so much time out of competition I make a birdie to start?

“Being back on the golf course has been weird. It’s been a long while since I was in a competition and I have lost my rhythm.

“But I will do my best. It’s not a 100-metre sprint but four long days on a very demanding golf course. It might seem easy but you have to play very well.”

Olazabal was partnered by Aberdeen challenger Paul Lawrie, who shot a 72, and Irishman Damien McGrane, who carded a 69

Joint leader Broadhurst is no stranger to enforced absences either, having been sidelined by a serious hand injury in 2000. Despite admitting his four-under 67 was not pretty at times, he was happy overall.

The 43-year-old said: “I just stuck in there and had to make a couple of miracle shots to keep it ticking over.

“I had a couple of very poor tee shots on five and six but came back with another couple of birdies at the end and it’s nice to finish four under.

“It doesn’t get any easier even if you’ve been on the tour for years and I’ll be out practising this afternoon.”

Carlsson, out early yesterday, matched Broadhurst’s efforts and is delighted to be seeing several weeks’ hard work bear fruit.

“The last few weeks I’ve been working a lot on my game and have started believing in myself,” he said.

“I had a good start in January but then missed a lot of cuts. I lost a play-off in Johannesburg and I made the mistake of thinking it was going to be easy. So, I’m very happy with this score today.”

Xu Qin and Zhou Jun both shot three-under-par 69s to share the first-round lead at the China Tour’s season-ending Omega championship at the Beijing Longxi Hotspring club yesterday.

The Chinese pair held a narrow one-stroke lead over Hong Kong-based Englishman Nick Redfern, Andy Zhou Xunshu and Wu Ligui, with Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Mong-nan, Hong Kong’s Wong Woon-man and Chen Xiaoma a further shot back on 71.

Order of merit leader Liao Guiming and two-time money list winner Li Chao are part of a group of 11 players on level-par 72.

The 27-year-old Xu, who models his clothes and hairstyle on Ryder Cup player Ian Poulter, fired three birdies on the back nine to put himself at the top of the leaderboard in a China Tour event for the first time.

“If I dress well, I feel good. Recently, I’ve been paying more attention to Ian Poulter. I always check what he’s wearing, from his trousers to his shirts. My hair is also high, like his,” said Xu.

“Today I drove well and my irons were good, especially on the second nine. If you can cope with these greens, which are so large and sloping, you can score well. I’d love to win this week because I’ve never won on the China Tour.”

Zhou Jun was delighted to put himself into contention once again after also carding a bogey-free 69.

“Today was my first bogey-free round,” he said.