Golf: Campbell streaks away from field

By TIM GLOVER

COVENTRY - New Zealand golfer Michael Campbell seemed to be playing a different game from the rest in the first round of the English Open at the Forest of Arden course yesterday.

While Campbell was shooting a 63, nine under and six clear of the competition, the majority were struggling to keep their heads above water.

Campbell said it was the best round he had ever played and thought there were several factors responsible for his score, which in the context of the day's play, was startling.

One was the company he kept in the pro-am and in the opening round, and another the new and controversial Callaway driver.

On Thursday, Campbell played with Ian and Liam Botham and the Australian test cricketer Michael Slater.

Yesterday, he partnered Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke, the runners-up behind Colin Montgomerie in the Volvo PGA championship on Tuesday.

"Rubbing shoulders with all these guys has made me feel like a winner," Campbell said.

Talking to Ian Botham about winning was, apparently, an inspirational experience, although Campbell lost money to "Beefy" in a side bet.

Nor did they take the pro-am by storm, finishing ninth.

Campbell reckons that with the ERC club he is hitting the ball 10 to 15 yards further on every drive.

"I was up with Darren, who is known as a long hitter, and just passed Lee," he said.

Westwood, however, begged to differ: "It's a good driver if you hit it straight as he did, but I didn't see any difference in length. He didn't hit one where I thought that must be down to the club. I think it's all a bit of codswallop," he said.

The United States Golf Association has banned the driver on the grounds that it infringes the rule about no club having a "spring-like" effect on the ball.

The Royal and Ancient, the game's governing body with the USGA, has yet to make a ruling pending the result of tests at Birmingham University, which means that the club can be used in Europe but not the United States.

This, in turn, means that Campbell, who earlier this week received a special exemption to play in his first United States Open, from June 16 to 19, will have to revert to his old Hawkeye driver at Pebble Beach, California, where presumably his tee shots will be shorter than they were yesterday.

"It's a bit scary because it makes some of the courses obsolete," Campbell said.

"The combination of the modern ball and club is frightening.

"It's scary to add 10 yards without doing anything to your swing.

"I'm not complaining. It's a different game now," said Campbell, who had eight birdies, an eagle and a solitary bogey, at the 14th, where he drove into rough.

Westwood, whose only blemish was a bogey five at the 10th, is one of a posse of players at three under.

The others are Zimbabwean Mark McNulty, Frenchman Benoit Teilleria and two more Britons, Gary Orr and Peter Mitchell.

Clarke, the defending champion, carded a 70.

Of the other New Zealanders in action, Greg Turner, who won the 1997 British Masters at the same course, recorded a 73 while Stephen Scahill had a 74.

Across the Atlantic, Frank Nobilo carded a three-under 68 at the $6.63 million Kemper Open. Nobilo was four shots behind the leaders, Jay Williamson and Steve Lowery. Nobilo's compatriots, Grant Waite and Craig Perks, both recorded 71.

- INDEPENDENT