Raitt scorches to record-equalling 63

The opening round in the Titleist and FootJoy PGA Professional Championship proved a stroll down memory lane as well as a walk in the park for Andy Raitt, the tournament leader.

The park in question is The Oxfordshire, a course Raitt clearly enjoys playing and of which he has fond memories.

He first played here in 1999 in the Benson and Hedges International Open, partnering Nick Faldo in the final round.

“It was my first year on Tour,” recalled Raitt, who has represented St George’s Hill, Weybridge, since turning pro.

“Faldo had joined our golf club as he’d bought a house on the estate, so I used to see him quite a bit. But we had never met until we played together on the last day.

“Obviously there were quite a lot of people out with Faldo and my mum was with me! It was good fun and I remember enjoying it a lot.

“I also remember he didn’t really play well at all and I couldn’t believe how hard he tried to grind out his 69 and finished six or seventh. It was unbelievable.”

Raitt, who won at the venue in a PGA regional tournament some years later, had to do some grinding of his own to post 73. There was no need for grinding nor scrambling during his latest visit, however.

Instead, he ended the first of the tournament’s four rounds having equalled the course record and twice coming within inches of breaking it when a putt and then a bunker shot flirted with the hole.

Teeing off at the tenth, he served notice of the golfing pyrotechnics to come with a birdie and then an eagle. Three more birdies and an eagle, at the 570 yard 17th, followed as Raitt reached the turn in eight-under.

“The thought of shooting 59 crossed my mind at that stage,” he admitted, “but then I went to sleep.”

His brief siesta comprised the solitary blemish to his round, a bogey at the par three second, followed by four holes negotiated in regulation before he finished with a flourish.

Two birdies in the last three holes added up to a nine-under-par return of 63 and a four shot lead over Carlisle Golf Club’s James Wilkinson and Steve Parry of North West Golf Academy.

A quarter of the field, including Adam Powell who had a hole-in-one at the par three 15th,  also broke par on a course that, renowned for windy conditions, was becalmed for most of the day.

As a result, it was easier to avoid the luxuriant and potentially punitive rough and Raitt added:  “If you get some wind the course is a lot tougher. There’s some deep rough and you have to hit a really bad shot to get in there.”

Numerous pockets of deep rough, however, are not the only potential card wreckers at The Oxfordshire. The expanses of water that come into play on several holes, especially the 17th, are also capable of ruining a round.

Raitt, thanks to holing a bunker shot, eagled that one. Others were left chastened by their visit, not least the unfortunates who racked up a 10 and a depressing dozen there.