Sweden's Alexander Noren moved into a one-shot lead in the Saab Wales Open after a second successive 67 at Celtic Manor.
He will partner defending champion Graeme McDowell in the third round on Saturday after the US Open champion added a 68 to his opening 67, to move into second place on the leaderboard.
Noren is finding some impressive form ahead of his US Open debut at Congressional in two weeks' time, after making it through qualifying with a stroke to spare at Walton Heath.
The 28-year-old from Stockholm won the European Masters two years ago, but dropped from 25th to 85th on the money list last season and from a high of 50th in the world he now stands 127th.
GB & Ire unless stated
-8 A Noren (Swe)
-7 G McDowell
-6 V Dubisson (Fra)
-6 J Donaldson
Click here for collated scores.
"I've always dreamed of playing a US Open and I'm so happy - so happy," said Noren. "It's such an energy boost."
He birdied four of the last five holes to take over at the top from South African Keith Horne, who after starting with a 64 failed to find a single birdie in his 73.
McDowell had four birdies in five holes, in his case from the eighth, and just as important was his recovery from under the lip of a bunker to two feet at the short 10th.
"One of the boys said Seve would have been proud of that one," he said. "I'm on a course I enjoy and in a position I enjoy.
"This is absolutely perfect for the US Open. I said I just wanted to get in the mix and get the juices flowing and it's kind of mission accomplished."
Monty's misery
But successful European Ryder Cup skipper Colin Montgomerie now has another memory of Celtic Manor - his worst 36-hole score on European soil for more than 20 years.
Montgomerie followed up his opening 78 with a 79 and had no doubt what the biggest problem was - his age.
"I'm not 25 any more," said the Scot, who in less than three weeks turns 48.
"I think it does show sometimes. It's good being busy, but it takes its toll trying to compete against guys less than half my age only doing this.
"Playing well last week (his seventh place at Wentworth was his first top 10 for almost three years) I thought I could perform well again.
"But I just played awful. I'm very disappointed not to be playing at the weekend, never mind contending. I'm one of the last names on the board."
The last time Montgomerie had two higher opening scores in Europe was the 1991 Benson and Hedges International at St Mellion. He shot 80-81 there, but in conditions far tougher than he experienced this week in Wales.
Important
Montgomerie failed to make it through the 36-hole US Open qualifying event on Monday and faces a similar ordeal at Sunningdale this coming Monday, to try to earn a place at the Open.
"It's become very important," he added. "I've not had a year where I've not competed in a major before (not since 1989 at least) - I've played in the Open 21 years in a row and I want to keep that record going."
Chat about this story w/ TalkitaSource: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12040_6965152,00.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment