Good start by Aberdonian to his 2007 campaign

PAUL LAWRIE (67) SHARING
FIFTH PLACE AFTER FIRST
ROUND AT ABU DHABI
Paul Lawrie got his 2007 golfing campaign off to a flying start with a five-under-par 67 in the first round of the Abu Dhabi championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates today.
The Aberdonian finished the opening day in joint fifth place after a bogey-free scorecard in which he had birdies at the second, third and fourth - what a start, indeed! - and further birdies at the 10th and 16th.
Second Scot in the top 20 is Lawrie's new Aberdeen Asset Management-sponsored team-mate Colin Montgomerie. Monty had a 69 to be sharing 18th place. Colin birdied the third, fifth, 17th and 18th with just one bogey, at the ninth.
Leader at nine-under-par 63 is Englishman Phillip Archer the man who came close (he faced a 6ft putt for a 59) to posting a sub-60 score in last year's Celtic Manor Wales Open.
Archer, 34, made 10 birdies and one bogey in his round, which carried him three shots clear at the top of a high quality leaderboard containing fellow Englishman Nick Dougherty, Retief Goosen (who required only 21 putts) and Henrik Stenson, who was involved in a collision with a lorry while driving to the golf course.
PUTTING LABORATORY VISIT
As birdie putt after birdie putt bolted into the hole, Archer was inwardly congratulating himself on the decision to improve that element of his game after managing to keep his card at a pinch at the end of 2005.
He booked a consultation with Dr Paul Hurrion at the latter’s “putting laboratory” near Birmingham, an establishment used by Padraig Harrington and David Howell among others, and last year improved 138 places on the putting statistics.
“It’s common sense what he tells you what to do” explained Archer. “It’s got me better in terms of my weight distribution over the ball and the big thing he changed was my putting grip. He’s got me gripping with both palms facing each other, so my thumbs are basically the same height and it levels up my shoulders.
“I saw Paul again just before Christmas. I just go for check-ups. I don’t over-do it. He gives me some really good things to work on and I do the drills every week.” he added.

FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 72
Players from Great Britain & Ireland unless stated)
63 Phillip Archer.
66 Retief Goosen (SAf), Nick Dougherty, Henrik Stenson (Swe).
67 Paul Lawrie, Richard Green (Aus), Gary Emerson.
68 James Hepworth, Julien Guerrier (Fra), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Graeme Storm, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Anthony Wall, Padraig Harrington, Nick O'Hern (Aus), Ariel Canete (Arg), Oliver Fisher.
69 Colin Montgomerie, Chris DiMarco (US), Stephen Dodd, Robert Rock, Ian Garbutt, Francesco Molinari (Ita), Phillip Price.
70 Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Stephen Gallagher, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Robert-Jan Derksen (Net), Brett Rumford (Aus), Peter Hnason (Swe), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Jean Francois Lucquin (Fra), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Richard Sterne (SAf), Andrew McLardy (SAf), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Oliver Wilson, Gary Orr, Garry Houston, Steve Webster.
71 Juan Parron (Spa), Graeme McDowell, Marcel Siem (Ger), Thomas Bjorn (Den), David Carter, Yasin Ali, Juan Parron (Spa), Paul Broadhurst, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Maarten Lafeber (Net), Peter Hedlom (Swe), Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha), Paul Casey, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Mardan Mamat (Sin), Andres Romero (Arg), James Kingston (Rsa), Lee Slattery, Peter Lawrie, Alastair Forsyth.
72 Christopher Hanell (Swe), Richard Bland, Gary Murphy, Notah Begay III (US), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Scott Drummond, Marcus Fraser (Aus), Miles Tunnicliff, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Damien McGrane, Mark Foster, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Mattias Eliasson (Swe), Kyron Sullivan.
73 Matthew Millar (Aus), Mark Pilkington, Marc Warren, Richard Finch, Soren Hansen (Den), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Cesar Monasterio (Arg), Joakim Backstrom (Swe), Alexander Noren (Swe), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Andrew Coltart, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Markus Brier (Aut), Andrew Marshall, David Lynn, Barry Lane, Steven O'Hara, Christian Cevaer (Fra), David Park.
74 Kenneth Ferrie, Tom Whitehouse, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Jamie Spence, Terry Price (Aus), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Johan Axgren (Swe), John Bickerton, Simon Khan, Jean Van De Velde (Fra), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Gregory Havret (Fra).
75 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Christian L Nilsson (Swe), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Benn Barham, David Griffiths.
76 Peter Gustafsson (Swe), Simon Dyson.
77 Ross Fisher, Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa).
81 Johan Edfors (Swe).
82 Craig Martin.
85 Alan Johnson.

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