K CLUB COURSE SHORTED TO PAR 70 BECAUSE
OF RAIN FOR EUROPEAN OPEN

Radical action was taken before the start of the Smurfit Kappa European Open at the rain-soaked K Club near Dublin - and, like Wimbledon, it was all because of the rain.
The 18th was reduced from a 578yd par-5 to a 162yd par-3. In all seven holes were shortened by a total of 653 yards.
The change on the final hole reduced the overall par from 72 to 70 and officials said that the same decision had already been taken for Friday's second round.
In addition, placing of the ball on the sodden fairways was likely to be in operation for all four rounds of the £2.4million tournament.
Maarten Lafeber from the Netherlands led at the end of the first day with a six-under-par 64.

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 70. Players GB&I unless stated.

64 Maarten Lafeber (Ned)
65 Robert Rock, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Gregory Havret (Fra)
66 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Stephen Dodd, Patrik Sjoland (Swe)
67 Simon Khan, Ian Garbutt, Ariel Canete (Arg), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Benn Barham, Pelle Edberg (Swe), Simon Dyson
68 David Frost (Rsa), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Peter Hanson (Swe), Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Thaworn Wiratchant (Thai), Anthony Wall, Peter Gustafsson (Swe), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Marcel Siem (Ger), Gary Murphy
69 Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), Graeme McDowell, Colin Montgomerie, David Howell, Phillip Price, Anton Haig (Rsa), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Richard Green (Aus), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Marc Warren, Johan Edfors (Swe), Andrew Marshall, Johan Axgren (Swe), Christian Nilsson (Swe), James Hepworth
70 Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Steve Webster, Ian Woosnam, Peter Fowler (Aus), Thomas Levet (Fra), Paul Lawrie, Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Alexander Noren (Swe), Oliver Fisher, Philip Walton, David Griffiths, Steven O'Hara, Brett Rumford (Aus), Sandy Lyle, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Simon Wakefield, Phillip Archer, Martin Kaymer (Ger), James Heath, Andrew Tampion (Aus), Alexandre Rocha (Bra)
71 Terry Price (Aus), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Thongchai Jaidee (Thai), Kyron Sullivan, Taichi Teshima (Jpn), Mark Pilkington, Gary Lockerbie, Matthew Zions (Aus), Richard McEvoy, Stephen Gallacher, Padraig Harrington, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Paul McGinley, Graeme Storm, Damien McGrane, Markus Brier (Aut), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Richard Bland, Francesco Molinari (Ita), Barry Lane, Jamie Spence, Shaun Webster
72 David Lynn, Joakim Backstrom (Swe), Lee James, Rafael Echenique (Arg), Tom Whitehouse, Lee Slattery, Edward Rush, Miles Tunnicliff, Garry Houston, Andrew Coltart, Alastair Forsyth, Paul Broadhurst, Peter O'Malley (Aus), Santiago Luna (Spa), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), David Drysdale, Oliver Wilson, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), David Carter, Sam Little
73 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), David Park, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned), Jonathan Lomas, Henrik Nystrom (Swe), David Higgins, Carl Suneson (Spa), Scott Drummond, YE Yang (Kor), Andres Romero (Arg), Sam Walker, Andrew Raitt, Sven Struver (Ger)
74 Richard Finch, Sion Bebb, Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Kenneth Ferrie, Bradley Dredge, Mardan Mamat (Sing), Wade Ormsby (Aus), Peter Lawrie, Matthew Millar (Aus), Steve Alker (Nzl), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)
75 Christopher Hanell (Swe), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Marcus Higley, Eirik Tage Jophansen (Nor), Peter Senior (Aus), Cesar Monasterio (Arg), Gareth Davies
76 Simon Thornton, Michael Hoey, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Mattias Eliasson (Swe), Gary Emerson
77 Craig Lee, Juan Parron (Spa)
78 Gary Marks
79 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Alejandro Canizares (Spa)
Withdrew: Gary Orr, Darren Fichardt (Rsa)