BMW PGA day one: Scot's strong start, two £50 notes and a steak dinner, 'funky things going on'
Ramsay takes pride of place among Caledonian contingent at Wentworth
Richie Ramsay enjoyed reminding himself that he still has a “lot of game” as the Aberdonian joined compatriot Ewen Ferguson in producing a promising start in the $8 million BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
On a day when play was halted for 90 minutes early in the afternoon due to thunder and lightning in the area, Swede Ludvig Aberg and Frenchman Tom Valiant set the pace with matching eight-under-par 64s on a rain-softened course at the Surrey venue.
In an event involving 11 of the 12 players in Europe’s Ryder Cup team, Matthew Fitzpatrick (66) and Justin Rose (67) joined Aberg in delivering the sort of displays that Luke Donald will be looking for ahead of the Bethpage Black bout in a fortnight’s time.
Local resident Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, chipped in at the first before finding water at the last and taking 6 as he opened with 69 while Bob MacIntyre signed for a 71 as they both finished their rounds just before play was suspended due to darkness at 7.30pm.
Pride of place among the eight Scots in the field went to Ramsay as he recovered from an early bogey to post a 66, one less than Ferguson, who started bogey-bogey before covering the next 16 holes in an impressive seven under, finishing birdie-birdie-birdie.
“It’s a big event for us playing against some of the best players in the world,” said Ramsay as he reflected on his day’s work. “Today proved to me a little bit that I have got to remember that I am mixing it with some seriously good players and I still have a lot of game. I just need to remember that.”
The four-time DP World Tour winner sits 86th in the Race to Dubai Rankings, having missed five cuts in a row. “It’s been a little bit of a struggle,” he admitted, with this welcome boost having been sparked by an equipment change.
“I changed putter at the start of the week and I think that has helped my alignment,” added the 42-year-old. “I played really nicely today from tee to green, but I also managed to finish it off, which is the key part of it. If you are confident on the greens, it really makes a difference. This is also a place I always enjoy coming to and my daughter [Olivia] was out there watching, so that was quite cool.”
Ramsay had spoken earlier in the week about how he felt this is a course where he can have a better chance of competing against the likes of McIlroy than most of the other venues on the circuit and a start like this was just what the doctor ordered.
“Your mind spirals at times with loads of different stuff and it is just about trying to be immersed in the moment and executing the shot and I did that well today, especially when I am under a little bit of extra pressure this year just because I’ve not played as well as I could have,” he admitted.
“I just need to realise that golf is super important to me but it’s not the be all and end all. It’s about trying to stay free out there and realise that it’s a course I can compete on because of the nature of the design of the course and the shots you have to hit.”
In a practice round on Tuesday that also included MacIntyre, Ferguson was offered some advice from three-time major winner Padraig Harrington. Happy to heed that, the two-time tour winner was also delighted to make his presence felt on the leaderboard.
“After hitting my drive at the fourth, I was mumbling about not being able to hit the shot needed down there and he just said ‘let me tell you, you just need one shot and if that’s your super shot, just keeping that shot because everyone wants to hit the shot they can’t hit’.
“It’s so true. Even playing with Tom McKibbin today, he hit some shots that left me thinking ‘phew, I need to go to the range and work on that’ as they were magic shots’. But I just stuck to my own shot, just a nice high fade.
“He [Harrington] doesn’t need to do it. He’s still bloody good. He could be like ‘you know what, I am going to try and beat you and I’m not going to tell you anything’. He’s winning senior majors and still does well on the DP World Tour. I thought that was really nice of him and I really appreciated that.”
Harrington ended up handing over some money to Ferguson at the end of the nine holes. “Me and Bob were texting about loads of random stuff and he was like ‘I’ve not played with you in ages’ and said ‘let’s play on Tuesday’,” revealed the Dubai-based Scot. “We booked in nine holes and Harrington and Harry Hall asked to join us.
“Bob was like ‘right, us two against you two for £100’. I’m going, ‘a hundred quid Bob, you can pay for me (laughing)’. But we won after nine holes and, sure enough, Harrington came up to me and gave me two £50 notes and I stuck them in my back pocket and said ‘well, that’s my steak dinner secured’. But I did say to Bob ‘calm down, man’. It was good, though.”
MacIntyre showed his battling qualities to save par at both the 17th, where his second shot ended up in trouble after bounding down a path, and 18th.
“It was the same old story around this place, where I struggle,” said the Oban man. “I’ve never played great here as I struggle with certain shots. I’ve hit a perfect tee shot down 17th, for example, and I can’t even hit a stock 3-wood because there’s a tree overhanging. Yeah, there’s some funky things going on.”
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