Fasth and Dougherty renew battle

Niclas Fasth and Nick Dougherty, Europe’s top two performers at the US Open last week, now find themselves battling for another title in Munich.

After a two-hour storm delay, Fasth – fourth at Oakmont – added a seven-under-par 65 to his opening 67 in the BMW International Open for a two-stroke halfway lead over fellow Swede Peter Hanson.

“Good play here is rewarded with birdies, and good play at Oakmont was rewarded with pars,” he said.

“But the challenge is effectively the same in that you need a very, very good score to win.”

Dougherty, meanwhile, had his second successive 68 and then spoke about his added incentive to do well this week.

The Liverpool golfer, seventh at Oakmont, admits he will be “gutted” if he is not part of the Open Championship at Carnoustie next month – especially after his showing in America.

But with two more days like the last two, he may have no need to worry any more.

The Liverpool golfer qualified for the US Open, led after the first day and eventually finished five strokes behind Angel Cabrera.

But while that earned him a debut in the Masters at Augusta next April, only the winner picks up an Open exemption.

“I’m desperate to be at Carnoustie, not just because of the way I’ve been playing but also because I love the course,” said Dougherty.

Victory on Sunday would lift him from fourth to first in a mini-Order of Merit, from which two spots at Carnoustie will come after next week’s French Open.

What has delighted the 25-year-old so far this week is that he has stayed in the hunt, despite suffering from jet-lag for the first time in his life.

“I didn’t sleep well on the flight back and last week was not a regular week.” Apart from being in contention for a major for the first time, he played with Tiger Woods for the first time on Saturday – and was exhausted afterwards.

“The only time I’ve ever been congratulated like I have this week is when I won. It really does feel like I won a tournament the way people have been around me.

“To come out and play two solid rounds like that is extremely pleasing. Arguably we’ve had the tougher half of the draw – it’s been quite breezy on our side.”

Hanson, round in 66, tied with Dougherty for top spot in the US Open qualifier at Walton Heath two weeks ago and went on to finish 30th at Oakmont.

“After last week you get here and you feel like this is wide open and the greens are really receptive,” said Hanson, who a year ago was just returning from an inner-ear problem that kept him off the circuit for a month and in bed for a week.

It was a similar problem to the one which derailed the career of former Ryder Cup star Thomas Levet for seven months, but the Frenchman is fighting his way back to fitness – and to form.

With a second-round 67, Levet moved into joint third place with Argentina’s Andres Romero and Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima on nine under – one ahead of Dougherty.

“Imagine being in a car that is spinning for 45 minutes. Or imagine a hamster spinning on its wheel – except I’m not the hamster, I’m the wheel,” said Levet.

“It got to the point where I didn’t know if I’d ever play golf again. I was losing my balance 100 times a day.

“My balance was completely out, so I couldn’t play golf. You can imagine what it was like. I couldn’t hit a shot – I couldn’t look at the ball to start with.”

Among the large group on six under are England’s Paul Casey and title favourite Ernie Els. They were hoping for better than 70 and 71 respectively, but Casey’s closing par five did have him laughing.

The suspension came after he had hit his drive, and during the break Casey practised the three-wood shot he assumed would be his first on the resumption.

“But I failed to notice there was a tree in front of me,” he said.

“That was a good 15 minutes spent on the range, wasn’t it? Doh.”

Instead, he hit a seven-iron lay-up and failed to get up and down.

Playing partner Ian Poulter’s first act on returning to the course was to take a penalty drop from heavy rough right of the fairway. It ended his hopes of surviving the cut, a par five giving him a second successive 73.

Despite his move on to the leaderboard, Dougherty was out-scored on the day by both his partners. Defending champion Henrik Stenson and 49-year-old Bernhard Langer had 66s to improve to five under and two under.