Romero leads in Crans Montana – Quirici in good form

Paolo Quirici on the green at the 7th hole. He ended the first day in fourth place Keystone

Argentina's Eduardo Romero has taken an early lead at the European Masters golf tournament in Crans Montana. The crowd at the Swiss resort also had some homegrown heroics to cheer with Ticino's Paolo Quirici ending the first day in joint fourth place.

Quirici shot a four-under-par 67 putting him level with Australia’s Brett Rumford. Only South Africa’s Hennie Otto (five under par), New Zealand’s Michael Campell (six under) and Romero (seven under) had better rounds than the Swiss number one.

Quirici’s performance was all the more remarkable considering his recent run of bad luck at Crans Montana. For the past five years he has failed to make the cut for the final two rounds.

But after Thursday’s success Quirici insisted he hadn’t been concerned by his previous showings. “I think people forget that this is a game,” he told swissinfo, “and that we’re not machines who can repeat the same performances every time.”

“Obviously if I can do well, I’m happy to provide a good round for the people who are following me. It’s not so much the crowd that put the pressure on. It’s much more yourself, the way you’re thinking.”

Quirici admitted that he had felt some pressure though after being drawn with last year’s winner, Lee Westwood. In the end it was the Englishman, currently number one in the European rankings, who made the quieter start.

Westwood finished two shots behind Quirici at two-under-par. Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, one of Westwood’s biggest rivals in the European Order of Merit, completed the round in three-under-par, while Denmark’s Thomas Björn could only manage one over.

With three days of competition remaining the early leaders will not be getting too complacent. After all this is the course that saw Westwood win last year after being five-over-par going into the final two rounds.

But first day leader Romero was more than happy to step into the limelight on a stage which saw his last victory on the tour, back in 1994. And it seems Quirici isn’t the only one finding ‘home comforts’ in Crans Montana.

After his round, the Argentinian said the giddy heights of this mountain resort felt like a home from home. “I also live in high altitude, in Cordoba,” he explained. “It is 1,500 metres here and only 800 metres at home – which is high enough!”

It seems altitude isn’t the only secret to Romero’s success. The popular player revealed that that he has taken up a form of yoga to assist his concentration on the course, an area in which he felt he had let himself down in the past.

“It is something which came from India called Rhamil Hayat. I started because I know concentration is my problem. I do it every morning before I play and every night. It’s just mental work and my concentration is much better now.”

First day leads may not always last but it will be interesting to see if the rest of the golfers in Crans Montana pay a little more attention to their morning stretches following Romero’s revelation.

by Mark Ledsom.