Marc Warren in the mix at British Masters

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Young Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick birdied the last two holes for a brilliant seven under par 64 as the British Masters supported by Sky Sports made its long-awaited return to The European Tour. With six birdies alongside an eagle on the seventh hole, against a solitary bogey on the second, the 21 year old eased into the first round lead at Woburn Golf Club, one stroke clear of Dane Søren Kjeldsen, Swede Robert Karlsson, Englishman Lee Slattery and Marc Warren of Scotland. Fitzpatrick has finished in the top three in three of his last seven appearances, and he gave the sell-out crowd of nearly 15,000 plenty to cheer as the £3million returned to The Race to Dubai for the first time since 2008. Tournament host Ian Poulter made a strong start with an opening 68, while Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, the men who will take on the role in the coming years, opened with rounds of 67 and 69 respectively. Key Player quotes Matt Fitzpatrick – 64 (-7) “It was a great day. I hit it really nicely and scrambled when I needed to. It was a great start to the week. It’s pretty tough if you don't hit it in the fairway. The rough is deep, and it's quite wet so it clings to the face. And it's difficult to get the normal distance with your irons. So it's a test all round really, but especially from tee to green. “I missed quite a few cuts in the row at the start of the year, even though I felt like I was playing alright. But now I've been playing decent and getting the right results that I've been looking for. I’ve gained so much experience, I really have, just week to week, learning more about myself, about tournaments. “It doesn't get better than that out there today. This is the first day and the crowd has been absolutely fantastic. They are really happy and have been great all day.” Robert Karlsson – 65 (-6) “Everything about my game is really good and I hit most of the fairways – you have to do that to make a score here. It’s a great atmosphere. It's great to play in England and it's a really great event. I’m putting together good rounds here and there, but it’s not been quite enough and it’s a pity I’m running out of events. I’m not in the season finale in Dubai yet, so I need a good one here or next week. Søren Kjeldsen – 65 (-6) “I think I only probably missed about two greens today. There wasn't a whole lot of scrambling involved. I hit it nicely off the tee and hit a lot of solid iron shots and gave myself a lot of chances. Golf is not always stress free, but it was pretty stress free today.” Marc Warren – 65 (-6) “I think the fact that I didn't drop a shot was very pleasing. I have new drivers and new irons and a new golf ball this week, so I am changing quite a bit. It was nice to see them perform well. To be bogey free shows that every part of your game is probably good on a golf course as tough as this. To make six birdies and any round bogey-free is always a bonus. “It's great to have those tournaments back in the schedule. I remember growing up and watching it on TV. It’s nice to play it a couple of times as well. Great to be back. Obviously a great venue makes it even more special.” Lee Slattery – 65 (-6) “I played the course yesterday and it was difficult. It was playing really long. I think the difference today was the sun came out, so it played a little bit shorter. Three-irons turned into six-irons, I think that was the difference. It just gave me a bit more confidence. I always feel like the strength of my game is my mid-irons, so it helped me a lot.” Ian Poulter – 68 (-3) “I got a nice tingle (on the first tee), shall we say. It hasn't been there for a long time on a Thursday in a regular tournament. To have that was really nice. It's unusual when you get that feeling, but it was a good one and it’s obviously nice to get off to a decent start. “I'm very proud. There's a lot of work gone on behind the scenes. I did a tiny bit in the summer. From that moment on obviously Sky Sports and European Tour took over and turned this into an incredible facility. The green staff, that golf course took quite a bit of water over the last few days. John Clark and his team have done an incredible job. Ninety guys have got this place looking first class. “You have got 15,000 guys out there that all want you to play well. Friends and family have been out there, faces I haven't seen for a while. We had great support and hopefully we're going to get that on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as well.” Complete first round scores (par 71) 64 M Fitzpatrick  (Eng) ,  65 S Kjeldsen (Den) , M Warren (Sco) , R Karlsson (Swe) , L Slattery (Eng) ,  66 S Lowry  (Irl) , P Harrington (Irl) , M Fraser (Aus) , B Dredge (Wal) , R Wattel  (Fra) , M Lundberg (Swe) ,  67 A Sullivan (Eng) , L Donald  (Eng) , J Singh (Ind) , R Bland (Eng) , K Aphibarnrat (Tha) , A Levy (Fra) ,  68 F Zanotti (Par), O Fisher  (Eng), R Karlberg  (Swe) , A Wall (Eng) , I Poulter (Eng) , R Fisher (Eng) , W Ormsby (Aus) , J Van Zyl (RSA) , J Luiten (Ned) ,  69 D Willett  (Eng) , S Hutsby  (Eng) , L Westwood (Eng) , J Donaldson (Wal) , N Colsaerts  (Bel) , C Wood  (Eng) , M Hoey  (Nir) , A Chesters  (Eng) , R Finch  (Eng) , N Kearney (Irl) , M Crespi  (Ita) , D Brooks (Eng) , A Cañizares  (Esp) , D Horsey (Eng) , M Carlsson  (Swe) ,  70 N Fasth (Swe) , A Hansen (Den) , N Dougherty  (Eng) , M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) , A Johnston (Eng) , S Kapur (Ind) , G Mulroy (RSA) , J Quesne  (Fra) , L Bjerregaard  (Den) , G McDowell  (Nir) , O Farr (Wal) , G Havret  (Fra) , J Edfors (Swe) , P Hanson (Swe) ,  71 R Green (Aus) , E Espana (Fra) , J Campillo (Esp) , P Dunne (Irl) , F Molinari (Ita) , M Nixon (Eng) , S Hend (Aus) , Y Yang (SKor) , T Hatton (Eng) , R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) , S Lewton (Eng) , D Howell (Eng) , O Wilson (Eng) , G Bourdy (Fra) , P Larrazábal (Esp) , K Broberg (Swe) ,  72 C Lee (Sco) , D Drysdale (Sco) , T Lewis (Eng) , H Otto (RSA) , D McGrane (Irl) , M Foster (Eng) , M Tullo (Chi) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , D Lipsky (USA) , R Rock (Eng) , G Storm  (Eng) , G Stal  (Fra) , M Jiménez (Esp) , E Pepperell (Eng) , J Parry (Eng) , T Olesen (Den) , T Pieters  (Bel) , B An (Kor) , T Fleetwood  (Eng) ,  73 P Baker (Eng) , M Manassero (Ita) , M Madsen  (Den) , B Hebert  (Fra) , T Aiken (RSA) , M Ilonen  (Fin) , T Fisher Jnr (RSA) , D Fichardt (RSA) ,  74 J Morrison  (Eng) , M Kieffer (Ger) , J Carlsson (Swe) , J Kruger (RSA) , P Edberg (Swe) , D Clarke (Nir) , M Lampert (Ger) , S Benson (Eng) , F Fritsch  (Ger) ,  75 S Gallacher (Sco), T Bjørn (Den), S Hansen (Den) , T Levet (Fra) , F Aguilar (Chi) ,  76 R Jacquelin (Fra) , A Quiros  (Esp) , R Kakko  (Fin) , S Jamieson  (Sco) ,  77 J Levermore (Eng) , M Siem  (Ger) ,  78 C Doak (Sco) ,

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