Sweden's Robert Karlsson remained in control of Europe's order of merit race with a three-under-par 69 in the Portugal Masters first round on Thursday. While the world number eight lies four shots behind pacemaker Stuart Manley of Britain, money-list rival Lee Westwood slipped to a 72 after a promising start. Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez, also with an outside chance of winning the order of merit and playing in the same group as Karlsson and Westwood, could only summon up a 73. Money-list leader Karlsson, aiming for a third successive tournament win, had to rally after a poor opening. “I didn't play great at the start, it's a bit difficult to concentrate on just the event because everyone's talking about the order of merit and it's hard not to be affected,” Karlsson told reporters. “You have to learn how to do it, though, and it's good the first round's out of the way.” With Padraig Harrington, second on the money-list, absent this week Karlsson can go close to clinching the order of merit. The signs for Westwood, third on the money-list, are not encouraging. Two-under coming to his eighth hole, the 17th, he found water with his approach and after that his round folded. The tournament's top group were put on the clock after falling behind time but escaped penalty. Karlsson and Westwood said they deserved their warning. Leader Manley, who ended his round in gathering darkness in the final group, was a surprise front-runner. The 29-year-old, with a career best finish of 13th and standing 174th in the order of merit rankings, has no form at all this year, having missed the cut in 20 of his 30 starts. Two closing birdies for his 65 put Manley a stroke ahead of fellow Briton Mark Foster, Spaniard Alvaro Quiros and India's Jyoti Randhawa. Foster and Quiros are trying to add to their maiden wins, coincidentally in the same event, the Dunhill Championship. While Quiros' victory in the South African event came in 2007, in his first full tour event, it has been five years since Foster won. Randhawa, with four career second places and five top-10s this season, is bidding to claim a debut triumph to maybe steal a little thunder from his ‘Bollywood' actress wife Tina. Jean-Francois Lucquin holed in one at the short eighth and is among seven players two shots off the lead. – Reuters __
