Cabrera birdies up Wells Fargo lead

Twice major champion Angel Cabrera conjured up some of his old magic to seize the first-round lead with a six-under-par 66 in the first round of the $6.9m Wells Fargo Championship.

The long-hitting veteran from Argentina reeled off four successive birdies around the turn to end the day one stroke in front of Americans Phil Mickelson and Martin Flores.

German Martin Kaymer, Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and Englishman Justin Rose are among a group of nine players a further two shots back on an impressive leaderboard.

Cabrera, 44, has made few headlines since losing a playoff to Adam Scott at last year’s Masters but he is still capable of matching it with the game’s best on any given day.

“I played very well on the greens and saved myself on the holes that I didn’t play so well,” Cabrera, whose only two PGA Tour victories came at the highest level with the 2007 US Open and the 2009 Masters, told reporters.

He had two birdies and one bogey in the first five holes at Quail Hollow before kickstarting his move up the leaderboard with a five-foot birdie putt at the par-five seventh.

Cabrera then recorded four consecutive birdies from the ninth, three of them from close range, along with a monster 42-foot putt from the fringe at the 11th.