Campbell labours in Wales

US Open champion Michael Campbell was facing an early exit from the Celtic Manor Wales Open today, while the first 59 in European Tour history was again a distinct possibility.

Less than two weeks before the defence of his title at Winged Foot, Campbell found himself three over par with seven holes of his second round remaining.

Ireland's Michael Hoey is tied for seventh place on -6 after 16 holes.

With the cut currently predicted to fall at level par, that left the New Zealander needing a superb finish to be here for the weekend, but that was certainly not an impossible task.

A day after Phillip Archer agonisingly missed a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th to break the magical 60 barrier, Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima and Scotland’s Gary Orr were threatening to go one better.

Lima raced to the turn in just 30 shots and then birdied the 12th and 13th, holing a bunker shot on the latter to stand seven under for the round with five holes remaining.

And after starting on the 10th, Orr had six birdies in a row from the 12th to join Lima on seven under for the tournament, two behind overnight leader Archer.

Campbell had earlier insisted there was no need to panic after an opening 75 which left him joint 150th in the 156-strong field.

“I had seven birdies in the pro-am on Wednesday, felt great on the first tee yesterday but it went south pretty quickly,” said Campbell, who defends his title at Winged Foot from June 15-18.

“The yardage was inbetween clubs, sometimes I’d hit the club 10 yards further than it should go and I didn’t hole a putt all day until the last.

“It was bizarre but I can put this behind me pretty quickly. The beautiful thing is this game can change very quickly – look at Thomas Bjorn winning the Irish Open after a 78 in the first round.

“Hopefully I can go out on Friday, shoot low and make the cut.”

Lima had another good birdie chance on the 15th but his putt from 20ft caught the edge of the hole and span four feet away, and the 24-year-old missed the return putt.

That meant he now needed birdies at the last three holes to break the record, while Orr’s outward nine of 28 meant four birdies in his last nine holes would be enough.

Lima could only manage one more birdie, on the par four 17th, and signed for an eight under 61 to remain one shot off the lead.

“I was thinking about 59 or even 58 because my game was perfect today,” he admitted. “I was joking with my caddy about it but I was still concentrating on my game and playing shot by shot.

“Even after the mistake at 15 I was thinking about an eagle on the par five and more birdies but I am happy with eight under.

“I played well here last year and finished joint eighth. It’s very short and I can carry all the bunkers and there are a lot of short par fours which are easy for me.”

Orr was still in with a chance of breaking 60 but could be left to rue three-putting the par five third for par, missing from four feet for birdie.