Ginn sur Mer Classic round one: Playing badly? Chuck out the putter

How many times heave we read of a golfer losing patience with his putter, finding a new one on the fly and blazing his way to the top of the leaderboard? Latest in line is first round leader Bob Estes, who tried four or five putters out at the start of the week before finding one that suited him. Result: nine birdies, including six on the trot on the return stretch.

By his own admission, though, he also had a bit of luck because the wind conditions were slightly more favourable when he went out in the morning. Later it shifted from north to south and turned things a bit “brutal". A number of players admitted to being caught out by the change in direction.

Estes has been one of those frustrating players who have followed quite decent showings with missed cuts, and this was actually shaping up as a poorer part of his season until his 18th place last week. But the only real weakness in his recent stats is distance off the tee and that proved of little concern Thursday. The figures appear to emphasise the effect of narrowing the fairways. Estes missed just three fairways which helped him to top the list of those who found their greens in regulation - he missed just one. Oh, and naturally he now tops the putting charts.

He might not enjoy it so much in round two with the wind still coming from the south, and I would be surprised if some of the lurkers hadn’t narrowed the gap by the end of Friday. It’s also likely to rain again, which will likely slow things up even more, testing everyone’s patience.

Estes’s putting and approach stats are mirrored by his closest rival, Tommy Armour III. The latter, however missed a couple more fairways. The only other player who so far comes close to their figures is Bryce Molder, who’s 4th for greens in regulation and 9th for putting. Huh? His previous best this season, among a forest of missed cuts, is 37th.

On the other side of the coin, Mark Calcavecchia, the choice of a few tipsters for this one, finds himself propping up the table at five over. He could certainly do with chucking his putter out. Guess it shows what a leveller a new course can be.