MALAGA, Spain: Swede Johan Edfors boosted his attempt to end a five-year victory drought when he shared the lead with four other players after shooting a 65 in the Andalucian Open first round Thursday. Edfors was joined on five-under-par by fellow Swedes Oscar Floren and Rikard Karlberg and British pair Jamie Elson and Robert Rock. Of the quintet only Edfors has previously won on the European Tour although he has not done so since 2006 when he triumphed three times and was unlucky not to make the Ryder Cup team that beat the United States at the K Club in Ireland. Apart from Floren, the others had the luck of the draw and played in the morning before a stiff breeze blew at the Parador de Golf course overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. “I had been planning to take this week off because I did not play well in the event last year,” former Scottish Open, British Masters and TCL Classic champion Edfors told reporters. “But then I decided to come and it was a good decision.” Floren, who graduated from the second-tier Challenge Tour at the end of 2010, benefited from a change in conditions when the wind dropped again for the last nine holes of his round. Rock's 65 was encouraging for the Englishman after he parted company with long-time caddie Jamie Lane following a lowly 58th-place finish at last week's Sicilian Open. Fellow Englishman Elson is still trying to make up for lost sleep after the event in Sicily carried over until Monday because of bad weather. The little-known Karlberg, 24, sprinkled his round with seven birdies and two bogeys. Among the five players who carded 66s to lie one shot off the lead was 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie who also played his round before sitting down to lunch. European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal and his predecessor as skipper, Colin Montgomerie, opened with matching 70s while tournament promoter Miguel Angel Jimenez registered a 72. Monty interested in captaincy Colin Montgomerie has said he would be prepared to captain the 2014 European Ryder Cup team. Montgomerie had indicated after leading Europe to victory over the United States last October in Wales that he was not interested in doing the job again. But former US Masters champion Sandy Lyle suggested this week to Reuters that Montgomerie would be perfect for the role in Gleneagles, Scotland in 2014. “I don't know where Sandy is coming from but that's just his own opinion, I suppose,” Montgomerie told reporters on the eve of the Andalucian Open Wednesday. “But if asked again, and because of my involvement for and with the Tour over the years, I would have to accept. Only if they wanted me. But they would have to approach me. I wouldn't be approaching them.”
