Els takes command in Scotland

Ernie Els finished his second round of the Scottish Open at 11 under par four shots ahead of European Open winner Phil Price, who carried on where he left off last week with a 68, and Australian Terry Price who birdied the last for a 68 and was the only player in the field not to have a bogey.

Fri, 11 Jul, 2003 - 20:34

Els carded five birdies in his 67, dropping his only shot of the tournament so far on the 12th, and is in pole position to regain the title he won in 2000.

It also proves his game is in superb shape ahead of the defence of his Open title, and the world number two is not too concerned about the possibility of winning here and then trying to achieve a rare double at Sandwich.

“Is it going to take something out of me? I don’t particularly care right now,” said Els. “I want to play as well as I can.

“The start of the year and all the miles I did, if that did not take it out of me then I don’t think this will.”

Els virtually wrote off his chances of Open glory last year after finishing 50th at Loch Lomond, but added: “You definitely want to play your best and so far I have been playing close to my best.

“This is an individual tournament and you have to play as well as you can and whatever happens I’ll go and play next week. You have to stay in the moment and that’s what I have to do this weekend.

“It’s a pretty nice position at the moment, I’ve been in it quite a few times and know what I have to do. I have to play my game and try and build on my lead if I can.”

Welshman Price conceded Els would be difficult to catch as he attempted back to back victories, adding: “I think it depends on Ernie. If he starts playing fantastic we will all have our work cut out but if not and I can raise my game, why not?”

The round of the day belonged to American John Daly who carded five birdies and an eagle in his 66, throwing in a double bogey for good measure, to be two under par.

Colin Montgomerie however, was in downbeat mood after his second-round 70, complaining about the greens for the second day running after singing the praised of the course on Wednesday.

“They were not very good, not much better than yesterday,” said Montgomerie, who felt he had “putted like an idiot” in the first round. “Only two birdies each day is not enough and proves I’m not putting well enough.

“I’ve hit 28 fairways out of 28 and most of the greens, but two-putted most greens. I can’t win with two birdies a round and I will have to try and address it.”

Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson tonight rejected claims his “obsession with distance” is costing him the chance of ending his major drought.

“I played well today and had a potentially really low round with five birdies and an eagle but made a few too many bogeys,” Mickelson, 33, said. “Although I’m not really in the tournament I’ll have two more rounds to try and improve my position.

“I certainly wanted two more competitive rounds going into the Open championship. I drove it a lot better, long and straight, so I was able to attack a lot of holes.”

Mickelson consulted coach Butch Harmon and was told he needed to give up five to 10 yards distance to gain more accuracy.

The left-hander was unwilling to do so however and Harmon, coach to world number one Tiger Woods and many other top players, labelled the American “pathetic” and “obsessed with distance” in a magazine article.

But Mickelson remains intent on doing things his way and after a second-round 68 saw him make the cut in the £2.2million Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, said: “I’ve heard that theory.

“But I think I have missed fairways with two irons and three woods as I have with a driver. I don’t think it’s distance that’s the problem.”

Mickelson felt it was distance on his drives on Friday which enabled him to card five birdies and an eagle on Friday as he recovered from an opening 76, although he was still 13 shots behind leader Els.

Scottish Leaderboard

11 under - Ernie Els (Rsa) (after 36 holes)

7 under – Phil Price (36)

Terry Price (Aus) (36)

6 under – Tim Clark (Rsa) (36)

5 under – Bradley Dredge (36)

Selected others:

3 under – Darren Clarke (36)

– Gary Murphy (36)

2 under – John Daly (USA) (36)

1 under – Colin Montgomerie (36)

1 over – Lee Westwood (36)