Long-awaited second Tour victory could be on the cards for Colsaerts

Padraig Harrington was three behind until he finished with a double-bogey seven that left England’s Tom Lewis and home hopes Thomas Aiken and Branden Grace in joint-second.

Open champion Darren Clarke managed only a 74, but that was one better than Masters champion Charl Schwartzel in the winners-only 35-man event.

Malton’s Simon Dyson was alongside Schwartzel after a round of 75, as well as India’s Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia.

Even allowing for the small field, Colsaerts’s lead after day one was impressive, and there have only ever been seven events in European Tour history where someone has been further in front after 18 holes.

Colsaerts has only ever tasted victory once in nearly 200 European Tour starts and that will encourage the 34 players left trailing in his wake.

A pair of 62s in Indonesia and Holland remain Colsaerts’s lowest scores on the European Tour, but he said: “This is probably the best round I’ve ever had – it’s quite a serious test of golf.”

However, Open champion Clarke already has 10 strokes to make up – he was wearing contact lenses for the first time, but rustiness was his problem.

Until he reached the 549-yard 18th Harrington was the one doing his best at trying to reel Colsaerts in, but a bad drive and three putts led to a double bogey and a 69.

Instead England’s impressive Lewis – who played alongside Colin Montgomerie – and South Africans Aiken and Grace, who qualified by winning the Joburg Open on Sunday, share second spot.

Best of both worlds awaits Ewart after she clinches win in La Manga qualifier

Jodi Ewart has completed a unique double by qualifying for the top tours on both sides of the Atlantic.

The 24-year-old Middleham-born Catterick member secured her tour card for America’s LPGA Tour in December and begins life among the best players in the world in the Spring.

But with the LPGA having a number of holes in the schedule, Ewart sought to fill in the blanks with a few events on her home continent’s tour.

She has done so in emphatic fashion by winning the Ladies European Tour’s qualifying school in Spain this week.

A par round of 73 was yesterday added to earlier scores of 70, 67, 67, 73 that had helped her establish a four-shot lead going into the final round at La Manga and was enough for a two-stroke victory.

LPGA events in America do not begin until March while the Ladies European Tour does not return from Australia and the Far East until May, meaning Ewart’s first steps on the main tour are likely to be made away from the respective heartlands.

But nevertheless it is a considerable achievement for former Yorkshire player Ewart, who forged a successful career as an amateur while studying at the University of New Mexico.

“It feels good,” said a delighted Ewart, who plans to head home to Florida before beginning her season at the Women’s Australian Open inMelbourne.

“I mean, fourth on the LPGA and now winning the LET: it’s a pretty good off-season if you ask me. I was a little bit nervous because I knew I was leading but I didn’t know how many shots ahead I was. After I holed the putt on 14 I really relaxed. The putting was slow on the front nine, but I holed some coming in.”