Gonzalez’s crisp style earns him a round of 64

Published on 14/07/2012 02:03

RICARDO Gonzalez has a habit of finding some strange spots on a golf course. At Wentworth once it was a pram. Yesterday, at Castle Stuart, his ball ended up in a spectator’s crisp packet.

It happened at the par-4 seventh – his 16th – as the Argentine, who has Scot Dave Renwick on his bag, catapulted himself into contention with an eight-under-par 64.

“My drive went way right and it was funny because, when I got there, we couldn’t find my ball. Then a woman said it was in her packet of crisps,” said Gonzalez with a smile.

The half-full packet was in a bag on the ground and, after running into it, the ball came to rest among the crisps. “There was no need for a referee as I marked the spot with a tee and picked up the crisps and gave the packet back to her,” he added. “She then offered me some and they tasted very good.”

The birdie that he duly made – his sixth of the day – also left a nice taste as Gonzalez tucked himself in behind joint-leaders Francesco Molinari and Alexander Noren. “I gave the woman a signed glove, so she was very happy,” he said. “It’s not the first time something like this has happened to me as there was a time at Wentworth when a ball I hit ended up in a baby’s pram. I was lucky then, though, as there was no baby in the pram.”

Gonzalez attributed his low score to a good day on the greens. “I only had 27 putts,” he revealed. In contrast, Sandy Lyle had 35 putts for the second day running as he missed the cut along with Scott Jamieson, who tied for third 12 months ago, and also Colin Montgomerie as his last chance to qualify for The Open went out of the window.