Golf: Stenson a star in the making

Henrik Stenson roared to the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the Benson & Hedges International Open at The Belfry.

The 25-year-old from Gothenburg, in his rookie season after being a clear winner of the Challenge Tour, takes a three-stroke lead into the third round of the £1m tournament.

Far from suffering a reaction to the opening course record-equalling 66, which left him tied for top spot with Paul McGinley, Stenson shot a 68 to leave him 10 under par.

He even threatened to go lower when he reached 12 under par with four holes to play.

He was five ahead of Dane Thomas Bjorn at that point, but then came back-to-back bogeys.

Stenson, who currently lies 129th in the Ryder Cup points standings and has a best finish of 27th in 10 starts this season, could leap all the way to 16th if he holds onto his position over the remaining 36 holes.

"I'm excited and I have a nice weekend coming up," he said.

"I've not played well so far this season, but I've got it together now.

"I'm glad we're back in Europe. All the travel has been quite rough and it feels like a pitching wedge coming to Spain, Portugal and England."

Instead of Thailand, Australia, Dubai and Qatar. He turned in 34 and then began the front nine with four successive birdies.

The crowd was growing by the minute then - and so were the number of cameras - and, unfortunately, he could not quite finish the round off in the way he hoped.

A pulled four-iron tee shot at the 395-yard sixth finished on rocks by the lake and he took a penalty drop, then he also pulled his tee shot to the short seventh.

Bjorn would have been only two behind but for a closing bogey at the ninth, but is still second on his own, a stroke ahead of Torrance himself, McGinley and South African Desvonde Botes, winner of the tour qualifying school last November.

Bjorn's victory over Tiger Woods in the Dubai Desert Classic in March makes him the last player to beat the world number one.

Since that dramatic day - Woods took a double bogey seven on the last after Bjorn had birdied the previous hole to catch him - the American has won the Bay Hill Invitational, Players' Championship and, of course, the Masters, where he became the first player in golfing history to hold all four majors at the same time.

That all makes Bjorn's performance all the more praiseworthy and the fact that he went head-to-head to Woods with all four days left nobody in any doubt about his character as well as his talent.

"He's scared of no-one," said Torrance after adding a 70 to his opening 68.

"Dubai was the perfect example of that and I love his attitude - he's hard on himself, but very aggressive. I've always been very impressed with his game."

The one worrying aspect of Bjorn is his fitness.

He has had a catalogue of neck and back problems and at the start of last year it was at its worst ever.

"I was in so much pain I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't lift my head off the pillow.

"I've been given exercises to do and it hasn't been as bad since. But it's something I have to be very careful about and I had three weeks off before this week because I just felt I needed a rest so I could last a little bit longer through the season."

The big date he has in mind, of course, is the last week in September.

The Dubai win has all but guaranteed him a return to the side and nobody is looking forward to it more. He even wants to play against Woods in the singles.

"We need 12 players with a will to win. It's not a holiday."