Veteran Lane back in limelight one behind leader Cayeux
Lane, 45, combined with 64-year-old caddy Pete Coleman to card eight birdies and one bogey at Kungsangen to lie one shot behind clubhouse leader Marc Cayeux of Zimbabwe, with Sweden’s Robert Karlsson and Australian Mark Hensby a shot further back on six under.
“That’s 109 years between us but I shot Pete’s age today so he’s happy,” joked Lane, who turned professional in 1976, two years before Cayeux was born.
“It’s good to play with the youngsters and show them how it’s done sometimes. I had a bad spell in the 1990s but the last three years I’ve really got back into it and practised hard and I still enjoy it.”
After 10 years without a victory, Lane won the British Masters last season, and should have won the Portuguese Open in March this year only to run up an amazing nine on the 72nd hole.
Lane has missed the cut in his last four events since retiring from the Irish Open after just one hole of his second round due to a knee injury.
“I had an operation on my left knee on June 20 because the week before I couldn’t walk,” added the former Ryder Cup player. “They couldn’t find anything but they cleaned it out and it isn’t hurting any more.”
Surprise leader Cayeux was born in Lancaster but spent only a year in England before moving to Zimbabwe with his English mother and South African father.
Both his parents have lost their jobs in the troubled nation and Cayeux admits he feels the pressure of trying to support them.
“Sometimes I use it to my advantage and sometimes it does affect me,” said Cayeux, who now lives in Johannesburg in South Africa. “I try to send them money back whenever I can.
“My mother used to run a petrol station but there is no fuel in the country and my dad used to be an electrician but he lost his job as there are a lot of companies closing down.
“I have thought about claiming English nationality because it is embarrassing to say you are from Zimbabwe sometimes but if it wasn’t for living in Zimbabwe I wouldn’t have been able to play golf.
“There used to be a great junior programme there, supported by Nick Price, and it’s a shame it’s gone the way it has.”
Sweden’s Niclas Fasth had looked like being Cayeux’s closest challenger after playing the first 11 holes in five under par as he chased back-to-back victories following his victory in Hamburg on Sunday.
But the former Ryder Cup player then duffed his approach to the third, his 12th hole, and four-putted from 20ft to run up a triple bogey seven. Fasth also took a double bogey on the sixth and eventually signed for a 69, two under par.
