Law off to good start in title defence

DAVID LAW made a solid start to his title defence at the Vic Open but the Scot was still five shots off the early pace after a lowscoring first round in Australia.

The Aberdonian, who won this crown a year ago after just a handful of events as a rookie on the European Tour, made a birdie and an eagle on his first two holes en route to a four-under 68 to sit in a share of 30th behind the front-running Spaniard, Alejandro Canizares, who hit a sizzling 63.

Canizares has had to return to the qualifying school to keep his European Tour card for the past two seasons and has recorded just two top-10 finishes in the last three years.

“I’m just surprised as I’ve played so badly the last three years,” he said. “It’s been complicated; I got injured three years ago and it took a while. I became a dad a year ago, life changes.

“I’m getting back to it, I’m starting to work hard on it and I’m still motivated. I’ve been on Tour for 13 or 14 years and I still want to do it. I’ve still got half of my career ahead of me.”

Canizares enjoyed a two-shot lead over the home quartet of Matthew Griffin, Travis Smyth, Justin Warren and Jake McLeod.

In the women’s event, Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom and South Korea’s Haeji Kang were sharing the lead on eightunder with Dame Laura Davies, playing her first competitive round since August 2019, just two behind.

“My mum wasn’t very well and I just stayed at home with her,” Davies said. “I kept entering tournaments and had to withdraw because she wasn’t getting any better.

“It just worked out that I had six months off and now I turn up not knowing what I’m doing. I’ve been on tour 35 years and I didn’t have a clue what to do. It was a bit weird, but a good result.”