Date: June 08, 2007
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Green solid in opening round

Aussie Richard Green is just three shots off the pace after the first round of the BA-CA Golf Open in Austria. Green shot a five-under round of 66 to go into a share of fourth and is in striking distance of leader Graeme Storm who carded an eight-under 63. Defending champion Markus Brier carded an opening 70 to lie seven shots off the clubhouse lead held by England&aposs Graeme Storm, who experienced a remarkable change in fortunes. The former British Amateur champion from Hartlepool had missed the cut in his last three events and withdrew from Monday&aposs US Open qualifier at Walton Heath. Wales&apos Bradley Dredge came in for criticism for making the same decision after missing out on victory in the Wales Open on Sunday evening, but Storm was happy he had made the right choice. “To be honest I&aposm in a different situation to Bradley, who has been playing well and only just failed to qualify through the world rankings,” said Storm, who finished the day one ahead of Swede Martin Erlandsson with England&aposs Tom Whitehouse and Swede Patrik Sjoland another shot back. What little wind there was on a sweltering day sprang up sporadically in the afternoon, and Yorkshire&aposs Danny Denison was one of the few to make an impression on the leaderboard with a 66. The 22-year-old from Leeds turned professional after playing in last year&aposs Open at Hoylake as an amateur, but failed to win his card at the qualifying school and has struggled so far on the Challenge Tour. “It&aposs tough on the Challenge Tour when you&aposre not playing well and there&aposs not much money at the bottom, but it&aposs a stepping stone to where I want to be, and this week is a taste of that,” Denison said. “I&aposve been almost playing well but just not getting my game together so it&aposs a big bonus to come here and shoot a good score, especially after only getting in at the last minute.” Two groups behind Denison, Colin Montgomerie could only manage a 73 which featured a watery double-bogey on the seventh and three putts for par on the 18th. Results from round one of the BA-CA Golf Open, Austria : -8: Graeme Storm 63 -7: Martin Erlandsson 64 -6: Patrik Sjoland 65, Shaun P Webster 65, Tom Whitehouse 65 -5: Francois Calmels 66, Daniel Denison 66, Richard Finch 66, Richard Green (Australia) 66, Gary Lockerbie 66, Richard McEvoy 66, Lee Westwood 66 -4: Pelle Edberg 67, Steven Jeppesen 67, Edward Rush 67, Jarmo Sandelin 67, Alessandro Tadini 67 also: -3: Matthew Zions(Australia) 68 -2: David Bransdon(Australia) 69 -1: Peter Fowler(Australia) 70 E: Terry Pilkadaris(Australia) 71 1: Simon Nash(Australia) 73, Wade Ormsby(Australia) 73, Scott Strange(Australia) 73 2: John Wade(Australia) 74