Howell still riding high

Nick Dougherty struck two early blows in his head-to-head battle with David Howell at Wentworth today – but it was still Howell ahead on points.

At the midway point in the BMW Championship, European Order of Merit leader Howell led by three from the 24-year-old rising star of the circuit.

Dougherty, however, chipped in at the 473-yard first and also birdied the short fifth. But there was a bogey in between and when Hoell rolled in a curling 15-footer on the sixth the gap was back to three.

They stood 12 under and nine under respectively, while Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, a Ryder Cup team-mate of Howell’s two years ago, was up to third on eight under thanks to an outward 31.

Jimenez, who had to change his ball at one point yesterday after a dog picked it up and left teeth marks, birdied the second, fourth, seventh and ninth.

Defending champion Angel Cabrera and Swede Robert Karlsson, joint third overnight, slipped back to five under and six under respectively and it was Essex’s Simon Khan who went into fourth spot, having chipped in at the first just like Dougherty.

Luke Donald and Paul Casey, paired together as they were in the 1999 Walker Cup, could not make the move they were hoping for on the front nine and stood five under and six under, but Jean Van de Velde leapt out of the pack with a 66 for six under and joint fifth place.

Padraig Harrington was going well. With the two closing par-fives to play he was up from two under to five under, while Ernie Els birdied both of them for a 69 and four-under aggregate.

There was one happy Scot and one unhappy one. Andrew Coltart had the second hole-in-one of the week – Donald had the first – when he aced the 10th with a five-iron. But the BMW sports car was only on offer at the 14th.

Colin Montgomerie was unhappy after he closed with a bogey six for a 74 and three over total. He may have made the cut, something he failed to do in seven of his previous nine events, but was an also-ran.