Darren Clarke shot a 4-under-par 68 Thursday in his first tournament since the death of his wife and trails leader Jean-Francois Lucquin by three strokes after the opening round of the Madrid Masters.
Lucquin's 65 put him a shot ahead of Richard Fichardt and Miguel Angel Martin. Former winners Padraig Harrington and Ricardo Gonzalez were among a group of five at 67.
``With a warm putter, I would have been much lower,'' said Clarke, whose wife Heather died of cancer last month. ``(The greens) were a little bit slow and we all struggled.''
Clarke has been paired with Thomas Bjorn (69), who was critical of Europe captain Ian Woosnam last week for not selecting him for the Ryder Cup team. Clarke and Lee Westwood were the captain's picks. Europe will defend its Ryder Cup title next week at The K Club in Ireland.
``He played nice,'' Bjorn said, referring to Clarke. ``He'll be fine for next week.''
This was Clarke's first event since he missed the cut at the British Open on July 21.
``I'm always apprehensive before playing in any tournament,'' Clarke said. ``But, like I said, I'm not here to make up the numbers, I want to contend. I set myself a goal to play well and I did.''
The Northern Irishman made two of his five birdies in the first four holes. His only bogey came at No. 16 when his second shot landed in a sandy divot.
A 50-minute rain delay didn't hurt Harrington's game. The 2000 champion had three straight birdies after the resumption of play and seven in total.
Lucquin, whose best result this year is a share of sixth at the Austria Open, had four birdies over the front nine to be 4-under 32. He had just 29 putts in his round.
``I am very happy because my putting is back,'' Lucquin said. ``I have worked a lot on it over the last week.''
Jose Maria Olazabal finished six shots back and was at 71. He had a bogey at No. 4 and double-bogey at No. 5, but also five birdies.
``My driving was bad today,'' Olazabal said. ``I can't do much more than put on more pressure. The scores will drop and I'll have to fight to recover the ground lost to others.''
© The Canadian Press, 2007
