Sport

Bebb leads as favourites struggle at Leopard Creek

EUROPEAN TOUR: Welshman Sion Bebb upstaged all the big names to lead the Alfred Dunhill Championship after the opening day at…

Fri Dec 07 2007 - 00:00

EUROPEAN TOUR:Welshman Sion Bebb upstaged all the big names to lead the Alfred Dunhill Championship after the opening day at Leopard Creek in South Africa yesterday.

The 39-year-old carded six birdies and a bogey for a five-under-par round of 67, one stroke ahead of Scotland's Craig Lee and Omar Sandys from South Africa.

All the other big names in the tournament struggled, with former champion Ernie Els shooting a noteworthy 70.

Darren Clarke had a topsy-turvy round, hitting four birdies and five bogeys in his round of 73. Clarke played the first 13 holes in two-under par before dropping three shots over the last four holes.

READ MORE

Stephen Browne, however, is just three off the lead after shooting a two-under-par 70 which included five birdies in a row from the 11th while an out of form Peter Lawrie finished on six-over-par 78.

Ross Fisher - second in the 2008 European Order of Merit - had a woeful time, finishing with a four over 76, which included a six on the par-three 12th hole.

The 2004 champion, Charl Schwartzel, fare d only slightly better, ending the round on three over par.

But the day belonged to world number 431 Bebb, whose dad Dewi won 34 rugby union caps for Wales as a winger in the 1960s.

AUSTRALASIAN TOUR: Adam Scott, the world's sixth-ranked golfer, is two shots behind first-round leader Michael Sim at the Australian PGA Championship in Queensland.

Sim, from Western Australia, made no errors in his 65 on the Sunshine Coast yesterday, leaving him one ahead of countrymen Peter Lonard, Craig Parry and Richard Green, and JB Holmes of the US.

LET TOUR: Gwladys Nocera fired a second successive three-under-par 69 to finish on six-under-par 138 with a five stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Ladies Masters in India.

Nocera, who shared the first round lead with Swedes Anna Tybring and Lotta Wahlin, led by five from a group of four players that included England's Trish Johnson, after yesterday's second round at the Eagleton Resort in Bangalore.

Rebecca Coakley added a 76 for a 36-hole total of 149. Hazel Kavanagh and Claire Coughlan also made the cut. Kavanagh shot 74 for 152 while Coughlan added a 77 for 156.