Craig Lee was heading off to soak in the sights and sounds of the adjacent Monza race circuit after setting one of the lowest scores on the opening day of the 72nd Italian Open.
Lee got a jump on his rivals from the offset as he took advantage of the 'preferred lie' ruling in place this week by holing a 20-yard green-side bunker shot for eagle on the first hole and went on to post a five under par round of 67.
He was the only player to eagle the first but, disappointingly for the second straight week, all four rounds of a Race to Dubai event will be played with the 'preferred lie' rule activated.
Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts threaded his way through the tight tree-lined course with a nine under par 63 that included eight birdies in succession from his fifth to 12th hole for a two shot leading cushion over a group of players including former champion and local hero, Francesco Molinari.
After eagling the first, the Stirling-born Lee was level par for the next dozen holes before picking up three birdies in succession from the 14th in a round that included just 27 putts.
“To start my round with an eagle was brilliant and I can’t remember the last time I did that,” he said. “But then I didn’t think the scoring would be that great over the four days given the condition of the course and some of the greens, so I am surprised to see nine under leading.”
Lee arrived at Monza lying 112th on the Race to Dubai and needing to be inside the top-115 at the year’s end to retain full Tour membership.
And while he posted a best of third earlier this year in South Africa, it was only after disqualifying himself from last month’s Made In Denmark event for failing to advise his playing partners that he had played a provisional ball that he has rediscovered that form with back-to-back top eight results in Prague and Moscow.
“Actually, the game started to come back around about the Scottish Open but then I missed the cut by one in Switzerland and I was first
reserve for Paul Lawrie’s event, so I was sort of on the wrong side of things going right for me,” he said. “Then we had that incident in Denmark but I then played great in the Czech Republic and the following week at the Russian Open.
“So I am pleased I am playing better as I am right on the bubble in terms of retaining my card and I would like to be a lot more comfortable at this
time of the season than I am.
“But I have three big events coming up at the end of the year including the Dunhill and the British Masters, so anything can happen.
“It would be nice to get closer to the number I had in mind which is around 80th and, if all goes well, I could be an outside chance for the Race to Dubai Finals.”
SCOTTISH SCORES -
67 - Craig Lee; 70 - David Drysdale; 72 - Chris Doak; 74 - Richie Ramsay; 75 - Bradley Neil.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here