Briton Paul Lawrie began another attempt to end a seven-year title drought by taking a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Johnnie Walker Championship Thursday. Scot Lawrie's five-under-par 67 put him one shot ahead of last year's Gleneagles winner Gregory Havret of France, Australian Wade Ormsby, Swede Ake Nilsson and another Scot, Steven O'Hara, who all returned 68s. Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, is disappointed not only with the gap between his fifth and last win, the 2002 Wales Open, but his indifferent results this season which have left him currently 97th on Europe's money-list. To try to lift his game, he has recently taken on triple-major champion Padraig Harrington's golf coach Bob Torrance, father of former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance. However, Lawrie made his fine start in heavy afternoon rain without a chance to see his coach this week. “I've seen Bob eight or nine times so far,” Lawrie told reporters after compiling an error-free card containing an eagle, a 40ft putt, and three birdies. “I'd expected to see him this week but he's not here. “I know what I'm doing, I'm a big boy and I've got to be able to go to tournaments without my coach. I never really struggled today.” Havret has a particular reason for achieving back-to-back wins at Gleneagles. The Frenchman led from start to finish last year but his third European Tour victory was overshadowed by the selection of Europe's Ryder Cup team at the event. Ormsby dropped three shots in the last two holes, finishing double-bogey, bogey, to sink his chances of leading. European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie's woeful run continued with a round of 76. Eight-time European number one Montgomerie has had no top-10 finish in 14 months. Former Ryder Cup player Thomas Bjorn of Denmark slumped to an 82 on his return to tournament play after missing three events suffering dizzy spells. Singh to play in Australia Three-time major winner Vijay Singh will play in the Australian PGA Championship for the first time in December, organizers said Thursday. The world No. 13 will return to Australia for the first time since he was a member of the victorious International Team that claimed the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in 1998. The veteran Fijian is the winner of 34 USPGA Tour events along with a further 22 international titles. Singh, 46, will join defending champion Geoff Ogilvy and American John Daly in the field for the Dec. 10-13 tournament at Coolum in Queensland.
