Boyd considers time off after Open nightmare

Only a month after leading the China Open at the halfway stage, England's Gary Boyd tasted the other side of European Tour life at Celtic Manor yesterday.

One sextuple bogey 10 would have been bad enough, but Boyd had two of them in a first round 88 in the Wales Open.

The 25-year-old then pulled out, telling officials he was feeling "sick and dizzy". Boyd put three balls in the water at both the 485-yard 14th – his fourth hole of the day – and 433-yard fifth.

"When I chipped in at the last I thought it was to break 90," said the former amateur international.

"I was really struggling tee to green and two 10s never really help. It's frustrating – I know my best golf is just around the corner, but my worst golf came out today.

"Maybe I need to take a bit of time out. At the moment there are definite errors I need to work on."

The second round will also be without defending champion Alex Noren, Welshman Jamie Donaldson and Londoner Anthony Wall.

Three days after he shot nine under par to be joint-winner of the US Open qualifier at Walton Heath, Noren slumped to an 81 and withdrew complaining of a back problem.

Boyd's score was not the highest of the day. Singapore's Zhiqun Lam had a 92 which contained a quadruple bogey nine on the last, triple bogeys at the second and 17th and double bogeys on the fourth, 11th, 14th and 16th.