Ramsey leads at Carnoustie

Richie Ramsey posts a five under par 67 at Carnoustie to take an early lead in the Dunhill Links championship.

Richie Ramsey, who has suggested that his testy on-course temperament has been given at least a short-term fix by watching a television programme on the war-wounded in Afghanistan, posted a five under par 67 at Carnoustie to take an early lead in the Dunhill Links championship.
On what was a distinctly chilly morning, the 26-year-old Scot turned in 34 before picking up three more birdies homeward bound.
On the team front, Ramsay and his playing companion, Ian Webb, a former Chairman of the R&A, were eight under par and one shot off the pace.
"I didn't take sort of too many shots seriously," said Ramsay. "It's an event where you've got to embrace the guys you're playing with and also the format."
Rory McIlroy, another doing duty at Carnoustie, was two under par under his own steam after 13 holes and four under par in tandem with his father, Gerry. This is payback time for Rory as he plays with his father in the event for a first time. In Rory's earliest golfing days, the currently two-handicap Gerry had three jobs on the go by way of funding his son's annual spell on the Florida children's tour. At the same time, Rory's mum, Rosie, would work night shifts in a local factory. His parents' investment would seem to have paid off in double-quick time. Though Rory has only just turned 20, he has already this year pocketed as much as £1,507,745 on the Race to Dubai.
On Wednesday, when he was asked if he still saw the prize money as a factor, this engaging young man did the next best thing to shrugging his shoulders. "In a way, yeah," he answered. "It's obviously a nice bonus when you play well at the end of the week to see how much you've earned but it's not a big deal."
No one got off to a faster start yesterday than Chih-Bing Lam, who was knocked to ground when Marman Mamat inadvertently hit him on the head with a driver at last week's Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open. Starting at the tenth on St Andrews, Lam began with three birdies in a row. Then, when it came to the 565 yards 14th, he had a 40-foot eagle putt which would have taken him to five under. To his irritation, he left it six feet short and missed the next to walk from the humps and hollows of that massive green with the most anticlimactic of bogeys.
[e-mail]