Faldo sees hopes fade

Nick Faldo suffered a dreaded shank as his hopes of a first win in Europe since 1994 were dealt a potentially fatal blow in the Lancome Trophy.

Faldo was one off the lead after an opening 65 but slumped to a second round 74 at St Nom La Breteche to finish nine shots off the pace set by Holland’s Maarten Lafeber.

The six-time major winner’s last European tour victory came in Belgium in 1994 - his last individual win in the Nissan Open in America in 1997 – but he has handed control of his various business projects to his management company to concentrate solely on golf.

The 45-year-old has also ended his interest in becoming the next Ryder Cup captain to try and play his way into the side instead, and will organise his schedule accordingly when the qualifying period starts next September.

It appeared to have paid off handsomely when he fired an opening 65 and birdied the 12th, his third hole, today to remain in second place, but from then on it was all downhill for the former world number one.

A bogey on the 14th was followed by three more in a row from the 16th, and after a birdie on the sixth steadied the ship, his round ended in ignominious fashion familiar to every club hacker on the ninth.

His drive on the 374-yard par four split the fairway, but his second was shanked 40 yards wide of the green. From there his approach found the greenside bunker and he did well to rescue a bogey with the pin tucked close to the edge of the trap.

Lafeber holed a bunker shot on the 18th, his ninth hole, for his first birdie of the day and carded five more coming home to compile a second consecutive 65.

That gave the 27-year-old Dutchman a two shot lead over first round leader Alex Cejka and put him in pole position to gain his first tour victory.

“You can’t really force it,” said Lafeber, who has remodelled his swing under the guidance of Scottish coach Gregor Jamieson, a former disciple of David Leadbetter.

“I should have won in Madeira this year (he was joint leader after three rounds but shot a closing 73 to finish one behind Diego Borrego), but I left too many shots out there on the back nine.

“It took quite a while for me to recover but I just have to be patient.

“It’s my fifth year on tour, I’ve had some good results and played with some good players. I know what I can do, it’s a matter of getting the ball in the hole as quickly as possible.”

Cejka added a 68 to his opening 64, despite almost having to play the 15th hole without a flag to aim at.

Cejka, Miguel Angel Martin and David Howell were the first group to play the 438-yard par four after starting at the 10th, and when they tried to hit their approach shots discovered there was no flag in the hole.

One was quickly dispatched and the mishap did not prevent Cejka from making his par, and after 12 more in a row he birdied the final two holes.

“We were stood in the middle of the fairway but we couldn’t see a flag,” said Cejka.

“Sometimes you can’t see it if it’s in shadow but when I walked up to the green I could see the hole but no flag. At least I only had 100 yards left so it was not too far to walk!

“We had a wait for a couple of minutes before they brought out a flag. I don’t think the greenkeeper is going to put out 17 flags and forget one so maybe it was a souvenir hunter. Or maybe it’s in my locker!”

Cejka has finished sixth and second in his last two tournaments but did not play in last week’s Dunhill Links Championship, although his withdrawal was not noted by tournament organisers and caused some confusion at his local club in Prague.

“I went into Prague golf club – the only one not affected by the recent floods – for some breakfast on the first day of the tournament and one of my friends was sat in front of the internet,” the 31-year-old explained.

“He looked at me and said ‘You’ve got a tee-time in 20 minutes at St Andrews’, but I had actually withdrew two weeks before and they had forgotten to take me out.”

The most remarkable round of the day belonged to Robert Karlsson who carded a 69 despite being struck on the head by a ball on the sixth hole.

The Swede was standing over an eagle putt on the par five when he was hit by a wild tee shot from compatriot Anders Forsbrand playing the fourth hole.

Karlsson was stunned by the blow but after a 20-minute rest and a couple of painkillers was able to continue, two-putting for birdie and playing the remaining 12 holes in two under to finish five under at halfway.

“I felt like I played the rest of the round after having a couple of beers,” said Karlsson.

“I saw stars when it hit me but it worked out better for both of us because Anders’ ball was heading for the bunker before it hit me.”

Instead the ball landed on the green and Forsbrand went on to make a par four although he did eventually miss the cut.

Karlsson is suffering a run of bad luck after having his clubs stolen in Scotland on Sunday and struggling to get a replacement set through customs in Paris this week.

“They say bad things happen in threes so I wonder what’s going to happen next,” he added.