By ALISTAIR TAIT
Senior WriterLYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — When you’ve had to bail out Ian Poulter at Lake Nona, then the Lytham Trophy isn’t exactly pressure. Not for England’s Luke Goddard.
The 20-year-old Englishman fired an opening 4-under 66 to take the first round lead at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. Three players share second place at 3-under-par. Floris De Vries from the Netherlands, and Englishmen John Carroll and Colin Edwards all returned 67s.
Andrew Cooley, who won the West of England Championship last week, and Matt Haines, winner of last year’s Carris Trophy, scored 68s.
With still conditions and warm temperatures, the 6,882-yard, par-70, Open Championship layout was playing as easy as it has done for years. Aside from the lack of wind, there is very little rough to speak of this year.
Poulter would have been proud of Goddard’s powers of recovery. The 20-year-old was 2-over-par through three holes after taking three putts at the 1st and 3rd holes. However, he played the next 16 holes in 6-under-par.
Goddard has benefited from several rounds with Poulter over the past couple of seasons. They share a common friend in British radio broadcaster DJ Spoony, an avid golfer. Spoony arranged for a match at Lake Nona in early January which featured Poulter and Goddard against Spoony and the son of Poulter’s business manager.
Poulter and Goddard were one down playing the last but evened the match when Goddard holed a 15-foot birdie putt. “Ian ran across the green and lifted me up and gave me a big hug,” Goddard recalled. “It was pretty cool.
Also cool is the way Goddard has been playing this season. He was second in the Selborne Salver and posted third-place finishes in the Berkhamsted Trophy and the Hampshire Hog.
“I wasn’t surprised at shooting 66 because I’ve been playing well this year. I had a couple of three putts at the first and third and then played really nicely the rest of the round. I was only in one bunker, at the 12th, and I got up and down. Only finding one bunker around here is pretty good.”
Not many in the field can call on Poulter for support, although Goddard said the flamboyant Englishman doesn’t give him too much advice.
“He’s been pretty good to me. He doesn’t really give me advice. He gives me a lot of encouragement. He just tells me to keep doing what I’m doing.”
The plus-3 handicap from Hendon Golf Club in North London is one of a bunch of good young Englishmen expected to compete for a place on the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team to play at Merion next year. He will be favored along with other young Englishmen such as Haines, Eddie Pepperell and Oscar Sharpe.
“Making the Walker Cup team is still my main goal and then the plan is to turn professional afterwards. I’m hoping to get in the GB&I squad this year.”
Scores with relation to par from the first round of the Lytham Trophy, played May 2 at the par-70, 6,882-yard Royal Lytham & St. Annes in Lytham St. Annes, England:
| 1. Luke Goddard |
66 |
|
-4 |
| 2. Collin Edwards |
67 |
|
-3 |
| 2. John Carroll |
67 |
|
-3 |
| 2. Floris De Vries |
67 |
|
-3 |
| 5. Bryan R. Fotheringham |
68 |
|
-2 |
| 5. Andrew Cooley |
68 |
|
-2 |
| 5. Matthew Haines |
68 |
|
-2 |
| 8. Paul O'Hara |
69 |
|
-1 |
| 8. Jamie Abbott |
69 |
|
-1 |
| 8. Robert Cannon |
69 |
|
-1 |
| 8. David Coupland |
69 |
|
-1 |
| 12. Gareth J. Evans |
70 |
|
E |
| 12. William Bowe |
70 |
|
E |
| 12. Alex Christie |
70 |
|
E |
| 12. Dale Whitnell |
70 |
|
E |
| 12. Jake A. Shepherd |
70 |
|
E |
| 12. James E. Frazer |
70 |
|
E |
| 12. Edward J. Richardson |
70 |
|
E |
| 12. Max Kraemer |
70 |
|
E |
| 12. Maximilian Kieffer |
70 |
|
E |
| 12. Sean Einhaus |
70 |
|
E |
| 22. Darren Renwick |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Keir McNicoll |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Sam Hutsby |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Miles Mackman |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Callum Macaulay |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Mark Hillson |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Scott Henry |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Billy Hemstock |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Neil Chaudhuri |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Jack S. Senior |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Chris Wood |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Mark Bell |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Oscar Sharpe |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Sven Maurits |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Richard Kind |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Rhys Black |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Craig N. Evans |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Gavin P. O'Neill |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Gavin Dear |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Gordon Yates |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Pat Murray |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 22. Ben Westgate |
71 |
+ |
1 |
| 44. Richard Smith |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. John Gallagher |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Luke W. Cornford |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Matthew Clark |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. James White |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Wallace Booth |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Greg Paterson |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Gregg Blainey |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Nicholas McCarthy |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Simon Coumbe |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Andrew Johnston |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Ian Kenwright |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Shane Lowry |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Shaun K. McAllister |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Romain Barbey |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 44. Maximilian Roehrig |
72 |
+ |
2 |
| 60. Jonathan Gidney |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Ian Winstanley |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Kris Nicol |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Jason Barnes |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Richard Prophet |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Philip McLean |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. James White |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Zachariah Gould |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. James Smedley |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Andrew Hogan |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Michael R. Swan |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Reinier Saxton |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Jack Clarke |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Benjamin J. Enoch |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Tano Kromer |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Hanspeter Bacher |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Cian Curley |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Zach Saltman |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Benjamin Sigl |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Alexander Knappe |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 60. Farren Keenan |
73 |
+ |
3 |
| 81. Eddie Pepperell |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Neil Henderson |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Robert Carson |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Tommy Fleetwood |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Ian J. Crowther |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Matthew J. Nixon |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Allyn Dick |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Neil Dean |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Mark Halliday |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Robert McKnight |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Jonathan Hurst |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 81. Niall Kearney |
74 |
+ |
4 |
| 93. Ken Benz |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Nigel Edwards |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. John Kemp |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Gary Wolstenholme |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Roberto Laino |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Jason Shufflebotham |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Adam Wills |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Shaun P. Malone |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Steven McEwan |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Adam Best |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Scott W. Mann |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Miro Veijalainen |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 93. Tim Stewart |
75 |
+ |
5 |
| 106. Jody P. Greenall |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Kevin McAlpine |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Ross McLister |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Rohan Blizard |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Glenn Campbell |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Darius Van Driel |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Adam Wainwright |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Steven Uzzell |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Paul Lowey |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Mark Thistleton |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 106. Ross Kellett |
76 |
+ |
6 |
| 117. James Robinson |
77 |
+ |
7 |
| 117. Glenn A. Taylor |
77 |
+ |
7 |
| 117. Daniel Wuensche |
77 |
+ |
7 |
| 117. Mark Young |
77 |
+ |
7 |
| 117. Ryan J. Brown |
77 |
+ |
7 |
| 117. Marcel Schneider |
77 |
+ |
7 |
| 123. Ben Kerr |
78 |
+ |
8 |
| 123. Narek Novy |
78 |
+ |
8 |
| 123. Andrew Hardie |
78 |
+ |
8 |
| 123. Jason Palmer |
78 |
+ |
8 |
| 123. Allan W. Harrison |
78 |
+ |
8 |
| 128. Nicklaez Rasmussen |
79 |
+ |
9 |
| 128. Stiggy Hodgson |
79 |
+ |
9 |
| 128. James Prince |
79 |
+ |
9 |
| 128. Eliot J. Wise |
79 |
+ |
9 |
| 128. Henri Satama |
79 |
+ |
9 |
| 133. Craig R. Cuthbert |
80 |
+ |
10 |
| 133. Michael Buchan |
80 |
+ |
10 |
| 133. Paul J. McKellar |
80 |
+ |
10 |
| 133. Aaron Fitzpatrick |
80 |
+ |
10 |
| 137. Tuomas Pollari |
81 |
+ |
11 |
| 138. Ian D. Hill |
83 |
+ |
13 |
| 138. Scott Borrowman |
83 |
+ |
13 |
| 138. Ben A. Stafford |
83 |
+ |
13 |
| 141. Simon J. Robinson |
84 |
+ |
14 |
| 141. David Henderson |
84 |
+ |
14 |
| 143. Daniel Solomon |
85 |
+ |
15 |
Posted: 5/2/2008
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