Adam Scott gave himself the ideal opportunity to claim his second European Tour title of the year when he moved into a one shot lead at the halfway stage of the Compass Group English Open at the Marriott Forest of Arden.
The 20 year old Australian, who won the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Johannesburg in January, added a second round 70 to his opening 67 for a seven under par total of 137, to edge ahead of South African Jean Hugo with three players, fellow Australian Peter O’Malley, Italian Massimo Scarpa, and England’s Justin Rose one shot further back on five under par 139..
Scott began his rise to the head of affairs with a birdie at the 361 yard second, holing from four feet, and added another at the sixth from the same distance to help him to the turn in 34. The first par five of the back nine yielded another red figure for the Australian before three putts on the short 15th saw him have to settle for a level par back nine of 36.
“I felt like I could have been leading by four, five or six after the front nine today – I was hitting it that close,” he said. “But it is about staying patient and I am going to have to figure that out.
“My patience is getting pretty good because the last three weeks have been a test. I’ve played like this but struggled round with the putter. It is frustrating, but I think I can keep it together out there.”
Closest challenger Hugo, who has never finished higher than ninth in any European Tour event, gave himself the ideal opportunity to right that statistic right with a tidy 68 to add to his first round 70, recovering well from a bogey at the first hole to notch five birdies, including at the 18th, without further error.
“The turning point for me was the eighth where I chipped in for birdie,” he said. “Before that I had been missing greens and only had ten putts for the first nine holes. But on the back nine it was better,” he said.
“It will be the first time I’ve played in the last group in a European Tour event and I’m really looking forward to it, and also having the chance to play with a rising star such as Adam.”
One shot adrift of the South African, Justin Rose owed his lofty position to a spectacular inward half of 31 in his 67, rattling in three birdies and an eagle three in the six holes from the second to the seventh, having started his round at the tenth.
“I gave myself chances on every single hole from the tenth to the 16th so I was kind of getting a little frustrated to have only reached the turn in level par,” said Rose.
“But I realised that this is not an easy course and conditions were not easy so I thought just hang in there and keep playing one shot at a time and then the fireworks started on the back nine.”
The glory run began at the 361 yard second where Rose holed from two feet before getting up and down from a greenside bunker for a birdie four at the long third.
Another birdie followed at the 463 yard sixth where his 35 foot putt dropped into the cup and he repeated the feat at the long seventh, this time for an eagle three. “I think I probably deserved that 67,” he added. “I played well and hit my irons better much better than I have done, that was the main improvement.”
Rose, who finished second to Scott in the Alfred Dunhill Championship before also finishing runner-up the following week in the Mercedes-Benz South African Open, also admitted the current successful phase of his professional career had helped put into perspective the fourth place he attained in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale as an amateur in 1996.
“I always thought I was a good player and I felt Birkdale didn’t do me any good other than kind of show me a glimpse of my potential,” he said. “If I had had to write the story it wouldn’t have been like that but I don’t regret it – where I am now, it has made me a lot stronger.”
First alongside Rose was Massimo Scarpa, who was one of the few players throughout the entire wind-buffeted second round not to drop a shot, carding 15 par figures and birdies at three of the Arden Course’s four par fives, the third, the seventh and the 17th for his 69.
“I didn’t make any real mistakes and played consistently,” said the Italian who celebrated his 31st birthday two days before the tournament began.
“I got lucky once at the tenth where I hit a wedge over the green into deep rough but got lucky with the lie and managed to get up and down – it was nice to have no bogeys on my card though.
“When I am up challenging I am not afraid to be there and when all things come together I can do well. To be honest I didn’t play badly in the last four tournaments and only made one cut. This week I haven’t played great but I am up there. I am happy with this position – this is where I like to be.”
Also on five under par, Peter O’Malley had the disappointment of dropping a shot at the ninth, his last hole of the day, to contend with, but the 35 year old from Sydney remained philosophical after his 69.
“It did take a slight edge off the day, especially as I three-putted the sixth for bogey as well, but I did birdie the seventh and eighth so it wasn’t too bad,” he said. “I’ve played solidly for two days and you have to be able to control the ball in these conditions. I’ve done that, and I haven’t done anything wrong either.”
The tough, windy conditions were borne out by the cut which fell at five over par 149, the highest cut on The European Tour this season, beating the three over par mark recorded in the Open de Argentina at The Jockey Club in Buenos Aires at the beginning of April.
One player who will not contest the weekend action however is Colin Montgomerie who had to retire from his second round after only playing three holes after suffering a recurrence of a back injury.
The 37 year old Scot played the tenth, 11th and 12th in one over par but informed tournament officials he could not continue halfway up the 13th. He said: “It is obvious that something is not right and it wasn’t right from this morning when I got up – when I started I couldn’t even put the tee in the ground.
“It got to the stage where I was trying to save it and everybody in the group was saying to me, ‘What’s going on here?’ Darren (Clarke) agreed and so did Phillip Price and all the caddies said to me the best thing to do was to go home and rest, which is what I’m going to do.”
As for his prospects of competing in next week’s US Open at Southern Hills, Montgomerie remained undecided. “I can’t say I’m a definite starter, I’m not certain to play at all, not right now – we’ll have to see,” he said.
Playing partner Darren Clarke will tee up, but has a lot to do if he is to win the event for a record breaking third year in a row. The 32 year old Ulsterman continued to struggle on the greens and posted a second round 72 for a two over par total of 146.
