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| September 20, 2003 | Saturday | Rajab 22, 1424 |
Triple-aim Poulter grabs lead
COLOGNE (Germany), Sept 19: Britain’s Ian Poulter went in search of his third win of the year with a faultless nine-under-par 63 that earned him a one-stroke lead on 16-under-par 128 in the German Masters second round on Friday.
Overnight leader Fredrik Jacobsen, however, was unable to follow up his opening round score of 60, shooting a one-under-par 71 on Friday to slip to a tie for fifth.
Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiminez, who shot a 62 with 10 birdies, is second, while his compatriot Carlos Rodiles (65) is tied for third on 14-under with Britain’s Miles Tunnicliff (63).
Dane Anders Hansen also put himself into contention with 10 birdies in the first 13 holes and another on the 17th before he made a bogey-five on the 18th to move to 13-under in total in a tie for fifth with South Korea’s K.J. Choi (68) and Britain’s Gary Orr (66).
Poulter, Jacobsen’s playing partner on Friday, who has now set a season’s best score to par after two rounds on the European tour, said he has additional goals to chase than adding to this season’s Wales and Nordic Open titles.
The 27-year-old is fighting Justin Rose and Paul Casey for an England World Cup place in November and he is within striking range of making Bernhard Langer’s Ryder Cup side to play the United States next year.
Poulter is 55th on the world rankings to Rose’s 42nd and Casey’s 30th.
Poulter, with no bogeys so far this week, is confident about his Ryder Cup chances now that swing changes with coach David Leadbetter seemed to have paid off.
Westwood sunk eight birdies over the rest of his round to shoot a five under 67 and make the cut by two strokes.
Seven-times European number one Colin Montgomerie, who is using his fourth different caddie in 17 months and returning to the belly-putter, could only card a 70 which left him two shots above the cut of four-under-par.
Two other high profile players to miss the cut were Nick Faldo, who was playing his first Ryder Cup ranking tournament, finished his two rounds on three-under 141, and Langer, who missed the cut for the first time in the event in 17 years.
Second round scores
128 Ian Poulter 65 63
129 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 67 62
130 Carlos Rodiles (Spain) 65 65, Miles Tunnicliff 67 63
131 K.J.Choi (South Africa) 63 68, Anders Hansen (Denmark) 69 62, Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 60 71, Gary Orr 65 66 132 Paul Casey 65 67
133 Peter Hedblom (Sweden) 68 65, Jarrod Moseley (Australia) 68 65
134 Ian Woosnam 67 67
135 John Bickerton 67 68, Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 68 67, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 68 67, David Howell 66 69, Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe) 68 67, Justin Rose 69 66, Adam Scott (Australia) 66 69
136 Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 69 67, Darren Clarke 65 71, Bradley Dredge 67 69, Darren Fischardt (South Africa) 69 67, Peter Fowler (Australia) 69 67, Marcus Fraser (Australia) 66 70, Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 68 68, Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 67 69, Paul Lawrie 69 67, Mikael Lundberg (Sweden) 69 67
FARMINGTON (Pennsylvania): Donnie Hammond and Australia’s Gavin Coles shot seven-under-par 65s for a share of the first round lead in the Pennsylvania Classic on Thursday.
One stroke back are Brent Schwarzrock, New Zealand’s Grant Waite and Michael Clark II in a tie for third place.
Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen is in a group of 14 players tied for sixth another stroke back.
Britain’s Luke Donald, Jerry Kelly, Tim Petrovic and South Africa’s David Frost are also among those who shot 67.
Coles has struggled with his game after reaching the main tour by way of his performance on the Nationwide Tour last season.
A diminutive 34-year-old from New South Wales, Coles is 228th on the PGA Tour’s money list, having earned a mere $38,330 in 22 tournaments this season.
The Australian has made the cut in only five of those events, and his best finish has been a tie for 56th at The International in August.
On Thursday, however, Coles was almost flawless, looking nothing at all like a player who missed the cut in his first 13 tournaments this season.
Leading first round scores
65 Gavin Coles (Australia), Donnie Hammond
66 Brent Schwarzrock, Grant Waite (New Zealand), Michael Clark II
67 Mike Standly, Luke Donald (Britain), Cameron Beckman, Lee Janzen, Tim Petrovic, Brett Quigley, Pat Bates, Craig Barlow, Jerry Kelly, Robert Damron, Tom Pernice Jr., David Frost (South Africa), David Peoples, Scott Laycock (Australia)
68 Mike Sposa, Steve Flesch, Shigeki Maruyama (Japan), Len Mattiace, Jesper Parnevik (Sweden), Rory Sabbatini (South Africa), Carl Paulson, Jim Gallagher Jr., Joey Sindelar, Jeff Brehaut, Skip Kendall, Cliff Kresge, Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan), Arron Oberholser, Mark O’Meara, Rocco Mediate
Other international players:
69 Stuart Appleby (Australia), Mathew Goggin (Australia)
70 Glen Hnatiuk (Canada), Steven Alker (New Zealand), Per-Ulrik Johansson (Sweden), Rod Pampling (Australia).— Reuters
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