• Englishman trails Jason Bohn after opening round
• Segio García in danger of missing cut again
A strong finish from Greg Owen has put the Englishman in contention at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans where Sergio García is facing a fight to avoid a second missed cut in a row at TPC Louisiana.
Owen, who was joint leader halfway through last week’s Verizon Heritage before falling down the leader board over the weekend, fired an opening five-under-par 67 at Avondale. That was good enough to put him in a five-way tie for second, two shots off the American Jason Bohn.
Florida resident Owen had been level par after nine holes having started at the 10th, giving back two early birdies with bogeys at the par-four 16th and par-five 18th holes. He put his foot down on his inward nine, sending down five birdies and no bogeys for his 67.
García, the world No23, had found himself teeing off as the highest-ranked player in the field after the withdrawals of the world No3, Steve Stricker, and the world No6, Ian Poulter, due to a right shoulder and left knee injury respectively.
The Spaniard was looking to bounce back from a missed cut at last week’s Verizon Heritage where, after an opening 67, he collapsed to a second-round 77.
However, he did not get off to the best of starts at the 7,341-yard, par-72 course, his one-over 73 featuring three birdies, a bogey and two double bogeys.
With Bohn setting the early pace with a seven-under-par 65, that has put García in a tie for 87th and on the back foot heading into the second round.
Bohn went to the 18th needing a birdie to give him a course-record 63 but instead bogeyed after finding the water with his second shot on the par-five closing hole, the only blemish on a round that featured seven birdies.
“It’s funny,” Bohn said. “I’ve played well. I’ve started very poorly through Thursday and Friday rounds of my year so far. So I’ve had some good finishes in turns, but they’ve all kind of come on the weekend. I was looking to get off to a good start, a solid start, so this is great for me.
“My horse has been running a little slow out of the gate. So it’s kind of nice to get a little jump and it builds a little confidence.”
Bohn’s two-stroke lead is over Owen, Australian John Senden and a trio of fellow Americans – the 2006 winner, Chris Couch, Jeff Overton and Jason Dufner.
The defending champion, Jerry Kelly, finished at one under alongside a group including England’s Brian Davis, playing his first round since calling a two-stroke penalty on himself during last Sunday’s play-off with Jim Furyk.
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