LAWRIE STILL STRUGGLING TO GET A
DECENT SCORE ON EUROPEAN TOUR

Paul Lawrie's run of poor scores continued in the first round of the Telecom Italian Open at Castello di Tolcinasco, Milan today.
The 1999 Open champion from Aberdeen starts the second round with only a handful of players behind him on the scoring table. Paul had a five-over-par 77 which included two double bogeys and a triple bogey in an outward 42. But for birdies at the first and ninth, Lawrie would have just about recorded his highest ever nine-hole total on the European Tour.
The course was not all that difficult, judging by some of the other scores. Joak Backstrom (Sweden), for instance, shot a 10-under-par 62 and that gave him only a one-stroke lead from Markus Brier (Austria).

FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72. Players from GB&I unless stated; (x) denotes amateur.
62 Joakim Backstrom (Swe)
63 Markus Brier (Aut)
64 Taichi Teshima (Jap).
65 James Heath, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Andrew McLardy (SAf).
66 Anders Hansen (Den), Garry Houston, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), David Griffiths, Richard Finch, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Brett Rumford (Aus).
67 Nick Dougherty, Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Juan Parron (Spa), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Charl Schwartzel (SAf), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Duffy Waldorf (US), Gregory Havret (Fra), Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice).
68 Paul Broadhurst, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Peter Lawrie, Anthony Wall, Tom Whitehouse, Simon Khan, Kenneth Ferrie, Steve Webster, Andrew Raitt, Andrew Tampion (Aus), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Alastair Forsyth, Oliver Wilson, Ian Garbutt, Sven Struver (Ger).
69 Gareth Davies, Cesar Monasterio (Arg), Phillip Archer, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Soren Hansen (Den), Oliver Fisher, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Erol Simsek (Ger), Benn Barham, Andrew Marshall, Steven O'Hara, Mattias Eliasson (Swe).
70 Steve Alker (NZ), Steve Jones, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), David Drysdale, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa), Alexandre Rocha (Bra), Tom Lehman (US), Richard McEvoy, David Carter, Lee Slattery, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Kyron Sullivan, Miles Tunnicliff, Pelle Edberg (Swe).
71 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Barry Lane, Bradley Dredge, David Park, Jamie Spence, Carl Suneson (Spa), Michele Reale (Ita), David Higgins, Wade Ormsby (Aus), Sam Little, Simon Wakefield, Gary Murphy, Terry Price (Aus), Marcel Siem (Ger), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Andrew Coltart, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Peter Hanson (Swe), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Robert Rock, Stuart Little, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Mark Pilkington, Luis Claverie (Spa), Massimo Scarpa (Ita).
72 Mark Foster, Paul McGinley, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Shaun Webster, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Alessio Bruschi (Ita), David Lynn, Lee James, Nicola Maestroni (Ita), Philip Golding
73 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Ariel Canete (Arg), Gary Lockerbie, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Gary Orr, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Notah Begay (US), Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa), David Bransdon (Aus), Sion Bebb, (x) Marco Guerisoli (Ita).
74 Warren Bennett, Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Emmanuele Lattanzi (Ita), Peter Baker, Andrea Maestroni (Ita), Jonathan Lomas, Marcus Higley, Phillip Price, Matthew Zions (Aus), James Hepworth, Costantino Rocca (Ita), Marco Crespi (Ita), Sandy Lyle, (x) Andrea Pavan (Ita), Gary Emerson, Christian Nilsson (Swe), Matthew Richardson.
75 Christian Cevaer (Fra), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), (x) Benedetto Pastore (Ita), Alexander Noren (Swe).
76 Darren Fichardt (SAf), Marc Warren, Adrien Mork (Fra), Edward Rush.
77 Louis Oosthuizen (SAf), Paul Lawrie, Sam Walker, Santiago Luna (Spa), Francois Calmels (Fra), (x) Nunzio Lombardi (Ita), Matthew Millar, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), (x) Cristiano Terragni (Ita).
78 Manuel Quiros (Spa), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Richard Bland
81 Paolo Terreni (Ita)
83 (x) Giacomo Tonelli (Ita)
(x) denotes amateurs