Scott Henry rekindled memories of Seve Ballesteros’ ‘Car Park’ Open victory shot as he stormed into a share of the lead in heatwave conditions on day one of the Nordea Masters in Sweden.
Henry sent an errant tee shot way left at the last of the Bro Hot Slott Golf Club in Stockholm that flew a grandstand and large electronic scoreboard before coming to rest close to a 1957 MG MGA ‘Roadster’.
The historic open-wheeler is valued around £25,000 and with the owner no doubt thinking it would be out of harm’s way parked behind the grandstand with a number of on-site contractor’s white vans.
Henry was afforded a ‘line of sight’ free drop from the near 50-foot high scoreboard but had to play his second less than 20-feet from the shinning blue-coloured MG park side-on to the Scot.
To his credit, the World No. 576 ranked Scott found the green and two-putted for par in a bogey-free round of a five under par 67.
Scott Henry playing his shot over a 1959 MG MGBRoadster day one Nordea Masters. (Photo – www.europeantour.com)
Scott’s effort that also included an eagle ‘3’ at the 13th saw him end the day tied with fellow Scot Marc Warren, who birdied three of his closing five holes, along with England’s Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, German Florian Fritsch and the French duo Sebastien Gros and Clement Bernardo.
Johnston, who with his beard would not be out-of-place in rock group ‘ZZ Top’, is coming off qualifying earlier this week qualifying for next fortnight’s US Open and also in April capturing a first Tour title in winning the Spanish Open.
In contrast, Warren elected not to compete Monday at Walton Heath and instead spent three days, that also included the weekend after missing the BMW PGA cut, working on the Wentworth range under the guidance of new coach, Hugh Marr.
Lee Westwood, with three wins in Scandinavia including winning the event four years ago, is just a shot back at four under par.
Henry is competing in just his fourth event this year and having finished no higher than T33rd at the Hassan 11 Trophy in Morocco.
But now after day one in Sweden, Henry also has the chance to grad a spot into next month’s Open Championship and if so, on the back of a shot Seve ‘manufactured’ from a car park near the car park at the 16th at Royal Lytham and St. Annes on route to his first Open Championship win in 1979.
“To have gone bogey-free around this golf course was more than I could have asked as there was some tough par fours out there,” said Henry.
“My game was pretty solid off the tee up until the last hole when I ended up in what I thought was a car park of sorts.
“I got a line-of-sight drop and just played my best shot of the day to give myself an easy par.
“But then I have to say I was thinking seriously that I can’t hit the sports car as it was only about 20 feet in front of me, and I think the owner was a bit nervous.
“It was just one of those shots where you have to go for it and I managed to pull it off.
“My caddy was trying to talk me out of playing the shot but I am a pretty aggressive player so I was delighted to finally get to the green and see the ball on the putting surface.”
Warren’s round is a welcome turnaround after missing the cut in seven of 11 events this year, and is also his lowest starting round in nearly eight months.
