Ryder Cup stars conquer windy Belfry
Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie defied strong winds today to keep alive their hopes of winning the Quinn Direct British Masters at The Belfry.
And part of the credit for Westwood’s performance was instantly given to former tour player Mark Roe, now a television commentator.
Despite two closing bogeys as conditions worsened Westwood took the early clubhouse lead on six under par after adding a 70 to his opening 68.
Montgomerie had his second successive 70 for four under, while out on the course Westwood’s fellow Worksop player Mark Foster led on eight under with one to play.
Resuming on four under Westwood – ninth, sixth and sixth the last three weeks and particularly disappointed not to win the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne last weekend after an opening 61 that matched the low round of his career – pitched to six feet at the 10th, then rolled in a 25-footer on the next.
He did three-putt the short 12th, but more birdies came at the 13th, 16th and long third, where he was on the green over the lake in two.
Driving into water on the eighth and into a bunker at the next were responsible for the bogeys, but he said: “I’m delighted. I’ve not played too good here in the past, but I’m very pleased with the position I am in.
“Mark (Roe) gave me a lesson at the Open and we did some more work on Tuesday. He’s given me a lot more variety and much more feel around the greens.
“It’s a massive breakthrough and should make a huge difference. We’ve always been good mates and being on TV he said he had watched me and saw a few glaring weaknesses.”
Montgomerie continued his superb recovery from a start which had left him three over par and not even in the leading 100 early in his first round.
“It was not easy,” he said. “A 70 was good today. They are very difficult conditions, very difficult. And hopefully they remain for the rest of the day.”
Foster led by one from overnight leader Martin Erlandsson, who after his course record 63 bogeyed the seventh and then was in the ditch short of the green for a double bogey on the eighth.
A big chance for Sandy Lyle to re-ignite his European Tour career, meanwhile, ended when he disqualified himself.
Before teeing off in the second round Lyle went to tournament officials and told them he had signed for a wrong score on the opening day.
The 49-year-old former Open and US Masters champion had signed for a four-under-par 68, good enough for a share of 10th place, but then realised it was one shot more.
His marker Alejandro Canizares had put him down for a par four on the 11th hole when, in fact, Lyle had bogeyed it.
Lyle, who has not finished in Europe’s top 100 since 2002, stands 198th on the Order of Merit this season.
Two other Scots were also out of the event. Former Volvo PGA champion Scott Drummond dropped six shots in the first four holes to slump to nine over and quit complaining of a bad stomach, while Andrew Coltart’s problem was a blister on his foot as he managed only 41 for the front nine and at eight over decided there was no point going on.
Three more players did not even return to the course. Swede Per-Ulrik Johansson, who opened with a 78, withdrew because of a knee injury, while France’s Jean-Francois Remesy and Singapore’s Mardan Mamat, who had started with 82s, pulled out with illness and a bad back respectively.
