THERE WAS a strong Scottish presence near the top of the leaderboard after day one of the Volvo Champions event in Durban, with three men sharing fourth place.
Richie Ramsay, Paul Lawrie and Scott Jamieson all posted rounds of three under par.
Fellow Scot Colin Montgomerie is level and placed in the middle of the pack in the invitational tournament.
Former paratrooper Thongchai Jaidee jumped into a three-stroke lead over Ernie Els and Louis Oosthuizen on a wet and windy day at Durban Country Club.
It was not the Thai golfer’s superb seven-under-par 65 that Els found himself mostly talking about afterwards, but one particular shot from Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.
The Open champion could not believe his eyes when Europe’s biggest hitter launched a drive of 419 yards at the downwind third hole.
“I’ve been coming here since 1986 I think and I’ve never seen a ball there, nobody has,” Els said.
“They should put a plaque down. I was coming from a different zip code. And I’ve got to compete against these animals!”
Els had the last laugh, though. He matched his playing partner’s birdie and out-scored him by five.
Jaidee, part of the 33-strong winners-only field thanks to his victory at the Wales Open last June, was out on his own from the time he birdied six of the first 10 holes.
The 43-year-old led by five at one point, but that was cut to three late in the day despite the two South African stars having to contend with heavy rain.
“We probably got the bad side of the draw but that’s part of golf,” said Oosthuizen.
Lawrie got the better of playing partner Montgomerie by three after an unusual start to their round.
There was a 10-minute hold-up on the opening green because the flagstick was stuck in the hole and damage was caused in yanking it out.
“I’ve never seen that before,” said Lawrie, who then came close to winning a £32,000 excavator when his six-iron tee shot to the 170-yard 15th hit the flag but stayed out.
Padraig Harrington began his year with a 70 but Paul Casey, winner in Bahrain two years ago but unable to defend last year after dislocating his shoulder snowboarding, could do no better than 74 like Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke was one worse than that, like defending champion Branden Grace.
Clarke’s fellow Northern Irishman Michael Hoey would have shared second spot with three closing pars but instead double-bogeyed the 16th and 18th for a 72.
Hoey reckoned he had drunk too much water. “I felt bloated and lost so much concentration,” he said.
The former British amateur champion will need his focus back for the second round. Amateurs from the final of the Volvo World Challenge join the action for one day only.