TWO DAYS GONE AND ONE ROUND STILL TO BE COMPLETED

Scott Henry: Today's picture by Getty Images(c)

GREAT SCOTT! HENRY'S 67 LEADS 

FOG-HIT MADEIRA ISLAND OPEN

REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Scott Henry has moved into a strong position to secure his maiden European Tour win in the fog-hit Madeira Islands Open.
With only two days left in the tournament and most of the field still to complete ONE round, it is odds on that the event will be cut to 54, maybe 36 holes.
In which case, a leading position is easier to maintain.
A five under par opening round of 67 earned Henry the clubhouse lead before play was suspended for the day due to fog. 
The unpredictable weather and spells of heavy fog had played havoc with the beginning of The European Tour’s 1,500th official event at Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra, 700 metres above sea level on the picturesque Portuguese island of Madeira. After play was abandoned on the opening day without a ball being struck, Round One finally got underway at 7:45am this morning, but only briefly as more fog moved in causing another suspension at 9am. 
Play eventually resumed at 12:45pm and Henry came racing out of the blocks with four birdies in his opening five holes.
A bogey at the 17th hole, his eighth after teeing off at the tenth, stalled his progress but he bounced back with a birdie at the 18th followed by three more at the second, third and seventh. 
That moved the 27 year old former Scottish boys champion (2004-2005) and Scottish open amateur stroke-play champion (2006) to seven under par but he suffered back-to-back bogeys at the eighth and ninth to finish on five under, two shots clear of Englishman Andrew Marshall, Pedro Oriol of Spain and former European Tour winner Martin Weigele, of Austria.  
Key player quotes
 Scott Henry, 67 (-5) 
 “I got off to a fast start which was nice. Recently, in the few tournaments I've played, I haven’t done that so it was nice to start well. 
“It was a tough day and I would have taken five under before I went out. It was strange - because it was so tough I didn’t expect to get to seven under like I did. I had a couple of tough holes to finish with and two bogeys in the last two was a bit frustrating. 
“I'm really pleased though, I played well and I'm in the hunt for tomorrow. Hopefully we can get 36 more holes done. That’s going to be the biggest challenge.
 “I'm quite happy just to be in the hunt. I feel like I'm playing good again so whatever happens tomorrow I'm looking forward to it. It would be amazing to win but we have a long way to go.
 “It was certainly tough yesterday. I was in the clubhouse for ten hours, from 7am, so it was long. I drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot of Madeira cake - that was about it. I think the cake kept me going today!” 
Martin Wiegele, 69 (-3)
 “I was very pleased with my day because the conditions were really tough. It was actually one of the best rounds I’ve ever managed to play in the wind. 
 “I hope that my practice since winter and my fitness work has paid off and I will try to carry on in this good form.
“It was probably as windy as in Lumine on the Challenge Tour a few weeks ago, where we had to stop playing because the balls were moving on the greens, but they are slower here and more sheltered. 
 “It was a really bad year for me last year but after having hip surgery almost two years ago I had to stop playing for eight months. They say that if you stop playing for a long time, you need three times the amount of time to recover so if I can get back the way I was in 2011 already it would be awesome.”
Ricardo Santos, 72 (Level) 
“I played quite well today. I was very solid from tee to green, but my putting was not great. Taking into account the conditions out there though, I am quite satisfied. The wind was very strong but not consistent, it came in bursts. 
"You could choose the lines of your putts but the wind might take it so that made it tough. “To do well in these conditions you need a combination of two factors – to play well and also you need to get a little lucky too.”  

LEADERS IN CLUBHOUSE
Par 72
67 Scott Henry (Scotland)
69 Andrew Marshall (England0, Pedro Oriol (Spain), Martin Wiegele (Austria)
70 Carlos Aguilar (Spain), John Edfors (Sweden)
SELECTED SCORE
75 George Murray  (Scotland)

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