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| November 17, 2001 | Saturday | Ramazan 1, 1422 |
Kiwi pair vaults into lead
GOTEMBA (Japan), Nov 16: New Zealand’s Michael Campbell and David Smail vaulted into the halfway lead at the World Cup on Friday as the defending champion Americans eased ominously back into contention.
The New Zealanders, who were one stroke off the first-round lead held jointly by Canada, Sweden and Scotland, fired a six-under-par 66 on the second day to move four shots clear of the 24-team field.
Japan’s Toshi Izawa and Shigeki Maruyama thrilled the large crowds at the picturesque venue at the foot of Mount Fuji, shooting a 69 to share second place on 133 with Scotland, whose bogey at the last hole cost them outright second place.
The top-seeded U.S. fought back from their fourball problems on the opening day with a 68 in Friday’s foursomes, Tiger Woods and David Duval moving into a tie for fourth place on 134 with Denmark and Spain.
The Americans were penalised on the first day for taking an illegal practice putt, but they rallied on day two with seven birdies and three bogeys on the Gotemba Course.
Costly bogeys at the par-five sixth, where Woods found the lake with his tee shot, the par-four 14th and the short 17th all resulted from errant driving or sloppy approach shots.
At the 228-yard 17th, Duval’s four-iron off the tee missed the green to the right and, after Woods pitched to within 12 feet, Duval was unable to sink the par putt, summing up the day for the Americans.
The New Zealand pair mastered the foursomes format at The Taiheiyo Club, dovetailing perfectly to finish on a 15-under-par total of 129.
The Kiwis picked up three shots on the front nine to kickstart their round and pulled clear of the field with three straight birdies from the 10th.
Scotland’s Andrew Coltart and Dean Robertson had an erratic day summed up by a mix of four birdies and three bogeys on the back nine.
Three birdies in a row from the 15th hauled the Scots into outright second place, but a mistake at the last, where Coltart charged his first putt from the green’s front edge and Robertson missed the return from four feet, slipped back to level with Japan.
Spanish duo Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jimenez settled for a 71 and finished the day on ten-under 134 along with the Americans and Danish pair Thomas Bjorn and Soren Hansen.
Joint first-round leaders Canada and Sweden are at nine-under along with South Africa, Fiji, France and Argentina.
Ireland, Australia and China are a further stroke adrift on 136 for the tournament, which continues with a return to the fourball format on Saturday.
Second round scores:
129 New Zealand (Michael Campbell/ David Smail) 63 66
133 Japan (Toshimitsu Izawa/ Shigeki) 64 69; Scotland (Andrew Coltart/Dean Robertson) 62 71
134 United States (Tiger Woods/ David Duval) 66 68; Denmark (Thomas Bjorn/Soren Hansen) 65 69; Spain (Sergio Garcia/Miguel Angel Jimenez) 63 71
135 Argentina (Angel Cabrera /Eduardo Romero) 67 68; France (Thomas Levet/Raphael Jacquelin) 67 68; Fiji (Vijay Singh/Dinesh Chand) 66 69; South Africa (Ernie Els/Retief Goosen) 64 71; Canada (Mike Weir/Ian Leggatt) 62 73; Sweden (Niclas Fasth/Robert Karlsson) 62 73
136 China (Zhang Lian-Wei/Liang Wen-Chong) 67 69; Australia (Adam Scott/Aaron Baddeley) 66 70; Ireland (Padraig Harrington/Paul McGinley) 64 72.
137 Mexico (Octavio Gonzalez/ Alejandro Quiroz) 66 71; Wales (Phillip Price/Mark Mouland) 66 71; England (Ian Poulter/Paul Casey) 65 72.—Reuters
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