The threat of being stung by a swarm of wasps led to England’s Mark Foster shooting his lowest commencing round all season and lead the field on day one of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
Foster found the shortest route around the 2014 Ryder Cup host venue with a six under par 66 in the event delayed by nearly three hours due to fog.
Despite the presence of wasps, Mark Foster delighted to shoot a 66 on day one of the Johnnie Walker Championship. (Photo - www.golfbytourmiss.com)
The recently turned 36 year old London-based Foster ended the day one shot ahead of Spain’s Ignacio Garrido and Argentina’s Tano Goya.
However the delay at the start of the day meant the majority of the afternoon half of the draw did not get to finish their rounds when poor light eventually halted play.
Foster highlighted also his second best round all season with an outward nine of 30 and in fact, he was also seven under par after 11 holes.
The World No. 147 then dropped shots at his 13th and 16th holes before a birdie at his 17th got him back to six under par.
But that was not Foster’s only concern as swamps of wasps played havoc all day with competitors.
“I was playing with two good friends in Howeller (Davide Howell) and Jamie Donaldson, and I would say that two or three times we had to back off shots because of the wasps,” said Foster.
“I remember I was facing a birdie putt with a wasp on my ball, but I still went ahead and hit the ball knowing the wasp would come off.”
Foster is returning to competition after ‘purposely’ taking a three week break from the Tour, and after finishing 45th in the Irish Open at Killarney.
Foster grew up in Worksop, England and his name appears with that of Lee Westwood on the honour board at the Worksop Golf Club.
But unlike Westwood, Foster has tasted success on just one occasion since joining the European Tour full time in 2002 and that was capturing the 2003 Dunhill Championship in South Africa.
Foster has capped this season with three top-four finishes including a superb second to Frenchman Thomas Levet at the French Open in Versailles.
“It’s been a good year but I’ve just had three weeks off on purpose as I was a bit annoyed having led for three weeks in a row and then they cut the Scottish Open to three rounds,” he said.
“Of course, I couldn’t do anything about the weather but after managing to play so good for those three weeks, I did not manage to get into The Open.”
Tournament host, Colin Montgomerie was progressing well among those in the afternoon half of the draw.
Monty started his round birdie, eagle and despite bogeys at three and four, he had moved back to three under par with birdies at 11 and 12.
But the victorious Ryder Cup captain then proceeded to bogey 13 and 14 and while he birdied 15, he dropped back to one under par with a bogey at 16 as the siren sounded to halt play for the day.
