07 August 2004	Saturday	20 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

HILVERSUM, Aug 6: Australian Richard Green was on course to capture his second European Tour title at the Dutch Open on Friday, seven years after his only success.

The 33-year-old left-hander took a three-shot lead at the halfway stage, upstaging the four Ryder Cup hopefuls battling it out at the Hilversumsche course.

Green's seven-under-par 63 took him to 12-under-par 128, three strokes ahead of Briton Andrew Raitt. While Paul McGinley, Ian Poulter, David Howell and Graeme McDowell have a separate Ryder Cup agenda, Green has his own goal of adding to his 1997 Desert Classic victory.

When he beat major winners Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam in a sudden-death playoff for the Dubai title, further honours were expected for the Melbourne player. He has suffered a title drought ever since, however, though two second places this year have made the 33-year-old optimistic about ending his lean spell.

Raitt continued to surprise himself by shooting a 67 as he has decided to hang up his clubs at the end of the year and quit golf following nearly 10 years of misery. His fingertip was bitten off by a dog in 1995 and a damages case against the owner has led only to enormous costs.

Poulter, with a 67, made up most ground of the four Ryder Cup hopefuls, placing him alongside McGinley, who carded a 69, six shots off the lead in sixth place. McGinley, in 16th position in the table, and McDowell, 15th, have most to do to get into Bernhard Langer's team. Howell is best-placed in Hilversum, at eighth.

While his playing partner McDowell shot a 67 to lie eight strokes off the lead, Howell was delighted to just make the cut with a 70, having slumped to four over par in the first round before firing four late birdies.

First-round leader David Lynn of Britain holds a share of third place, five off the lead, along with compatriot Miles Tunnicliff, this year's Diageo Championship winner, and Swede Per Nyman.

SECOND ROUND SCORES:

128 Richard Green 65 63

131 Andrew Raitt 64 67

133 David Lynn 63 70, Per Nyman 66 67, Miles Tunnicliff 67 66

134 Miguel Angel Martin 68 66, Paul McGinley 65 69, Ian Poulter 67 67

135 Gordon Brand Jnr 68 68

136 Andrew Coltart 68 68, Graeme McDowell 69 67, Steven O'Hara 69 67, Martin Wiegele 65 71, Mark Roe 69 67, Stephen Scahill 65 71

137 Kalle Brink 69 68, David Dixon 67 70, Ross Fisher 69 68, Ignacio Garrido 69 68, Christopher Hanell 70 67, Andrew Marshall, Andrew Oldcorn 71 66, Costantino Rocca 70 67, Raymond Russell 66 71, Jarmo Sandelin 68 69, Craig Williams 69 68

138 Mads Vibe-Hastrup 69 69, Gary Orr 69 69, Tom Whitehouse 68 70 139 Diego Borrego 68 71, Jose Manuel Lara 70 69, Robert Rock 72 67, Marc Farry 73 66, Sebastian Fernandez 70 69, Peter Lawrie 73 66, Damien McGrane 70 69, Maarten Olander 68 71, David Park 67 72, Mark Reynolds 71 68, Patrik Sjoland 66 73, Markus Brier 71 68, Nick Dougherty 72 67.

PAMPLING STAYS CALM

CASTLE ROCK (Colorado): Australian Rod Pampling carded five birdies and an eagle for 15 points and the first-round lead at The International on Thursday, before storms suspended play with half the field still on the course.

Pampling leads fellow Australian Geoff Ogilvy and Argentina's Jose Coceres by one point in the modified Stableford scoring format that awards positive points for birdie or better and negative points for bogey and worse.

First-round play was suspended due to inclement weather and will resume on Friday morning at 7 a.m. local time. The second round will start at 9:30 a.m.. Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal and Tom Lehman are tied for fourth with 11 points, while Britain's Justin Rose, Brad Faxon and Tim Petrovic have nine points.

The format rewards aggressive play but Pampling believes that getting the ball into the fairway is key to a good score and he hit all 14 fairways and needed just 25 putts.

FIRST ROUND SCORES

15 Rod Pampling

14 Geoff Ogilvy, Jose Coceres

11 Jose Maria Olazabal, Tom Lehman

9 Justin Rose, Brad Faxon, Tim Petrovic

8 Duffy Waldorf, Alex Cejka, Davis Love III, Robert Allenby, John Rollins, John Huston, Danny Briggs, Brian Kortan

7 Bernhard Langer, Tom Carter, Tag Ridings

6 Stewart Cink, David Toms, J.P. Hayes, Justin Leonard, Arron Onerholser. -Reuters