Hot favourite Tom Watson needed some inspiration to get round Royal County Down yesterday - from American legend Byron Nelson.

The eight-time Major winner struggled to card a one under par 70 and admitted: "I needed help from Byron Nelson."

The 53 year old drew the biggest gallery of the day in a threeball with Seiji Ebihara and John Morgan, carding an eagle, three birdies and four bogeys on a relatively calm morning.

And in the end he had to revert to some words of wisdom he received from Nelson on his last visit here in the early '90s, to negotiate the more difficult holes.

He said: "I had some great advice from Byron and I remember some of it. Of course, being my age I don't remember all of it but I remember some of it.

"There are some shots on the golf course when I remember the advice being, 'make sure you hit it short here', or 'go right here' and 'don't go into the middle of the green'.

"Some of those comments are coming back and making sense. Whether I can do it or not is another story."

Watson said on Wednesday that he needed to get to know the course in order to attack and add the Senior title to his five Opens crowns.

But he admitted yesterday that he still doesn't quite know how to handle the quirky links with its blind tee shots and difficult greens.

"One of the things that is necessary on this golf course is to learn how to play it. I don't think I fully understand how to play or nearly understand how to play.

"I am still feeling my way around for certain shots but the course is very difficult to understand. The were quite a few blind shots and you have to understand how the ball enters the green."

He added: "I didn't hit the ball particularly well today or too close to the hole. The wind didn't blow and the golf course was there for the taking."

With only a light breeze for the early starters, Watson opened in brilliant fashion, firing a four iron to six feet for an eagle at the par five opening hole.

But a bogey at the second showed that he wasn't quite firing on all cylinders and in the end he was happy to escape with four bogeys on his card.

"I turned around and made a stupid bogey ion number two," he confessed. "I put it in the bunker and failed to get up and down. Almost failed to get it out of the bunker! Then it was a mini struggle the rest of the round."

After a bogey at the eighth where he drove in the left rough, Watson hit a six iron to 25 feet at the picture postcard ninth and drained the putt to turn in one under par.

A bogey at the 479 yard par five 12th threatened to ruin his day but he fought back, rifling a seven iron to three feet at the difficult 13th.

Another bogey at the 15th was erased at the driveable 16th where his tee shot found the front edge of the green and he two-putted for his three.

"I had an eagle on one and then that bogey on 12 equalised my round out," he said.

But his bogey six was almost a double bogey as playing partner Seiji Ebihara made an eagle and 13 of the 18 players who had already played the hole made a birdie.

Watson pushed his three-wood tee shot right, pulled a four-wood into more rough and then half shanked his third through the green from where he took three more to get down.

"Par was the worst score I should have made and it should have been birdie," said Watson. "I wasted a shot there. Overall I didn't keep the ball in play as well as I should and didn't hit the ball as close as I should. My swing doesn't vary too much but I will have it sorted out my tomorrow."

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© Brian Keogh 2002

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