MUNICH, Aug 31: The English trio of Richard Bland, Ian Poulter and Jamie Spence were sharing the lead after two rounds of the 1.8- million euro BMW International Open golf tournament Friday with total scores of 131, 13 under par and one stroke ahead of Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn.
Spence and Bjorn both shot 64s on Friday, while Bland and Poulter had rounds of 66 on Friday over Munich’s par-72 Nord-Eichenried course.
Poulter may be rounding into form just at the right time as he is the reserve for Europe’s Ryder Cup team which takes on the United States late next month.
First-round leader and local favourite Bernhard Langer, who had had a 64 on Thursday, was two strokes back on 133 after finishing with a 69 on Friday.
But the 45-year-old German was hampered by a nasty case of food poisoning and said afterwards he might not even have teed off on Friday had he not been atop the leaderboard.
Langer, who struggled at the start while bogeying the first two holes, managed to get seven birdies, as well as two more bogeys before completing his round.
Titleholder John Daly of the United States sank a birdie putt on the 18th to make the cut at
The 1995 British Open champion Daly finished with a two-under-par 70 for the second straight day and enters the weekend with a four- under 140.
However, he is unlikely to become the first back-to-back winner in the 14-year history of the tournament because he is far off the pace. Daly has not won a tournament since his 2001 title in Munich and struggled this time around to stay alive.
Scond round scores
131 Richard Bland 65 66, Jamie Spence 67 64, Ian Poulter 65 66
132 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 68 64
133 Bernhard Langer (Germany) 64 69
134 Emanuele Canonica (Italy) 67 67, David Lynn 67 67, Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 69 65, Philip Golding 69 65
135 Paul Casey 72 63, Rolf Muntz (Netherlands) 70 65, Henrik Bjornstad (Norway) 69 66, Alastair Forsyth 68 67, David Park 68 67, David Howell 70 65, Steen Tinning (Denmark) 68 67
136 Daren Lee 68 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 68 68, John Bickerton 67 69, Marten Olander (Sweden) 69 67, Joakim Haeggman (Sweden) 69 67
137 Justin Rose 70 67, Barry Lane 68 69, Simon Dyson 70 67, Gary Clark 70 67, Nick Dougherty 70 67, Mathias Gronberg (Sweden) 70 67, Adam Mednick (Sweden) 72 65
138 Andrew Coltart 70 68, Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 67 71, Peter Senior (Australia) 70 68, David Geall 70 6, Andrew Marshall 69 69, Gary Orr 70 68, Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 66 72, Robert Coles 65 73, Warren Bennett 72 66, Bradley Dredge 70 68, Paul McGinley (Ireland) 70 68, Greg Owen 69 69
139 Mikael Lundberg (Sweden) 70 69, Klas Eriksson (Sweden) 67 72, Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 70 69, Marcel Siem (Germany) 72 67, Jorge Berendt (Argentina) 69 70, Ian Garbutt 71 68, Scott Gardiner (Australia) 71 68, Jean Hugo (South Africa) 71 68, Markus Brier (Austria) 69 70, Anthony Wall 70 69, Simon Khan 68 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 69 70, Russell Claydon 67 72, Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 70 69.
SURREY, British Columbia, Aug 30: American Craig Barlow, without a win in 125 starts on the U.S. PGA Tour, hit a six-under-par 65 to take a one-shot lead on 132 after the second round of the $3.5 million Air Canada Championship Friday.
Robert Allenby fired a sizzling 62 to move into a tie for second place with fellow Australian Peter Lonard (67) and American David Gossett (66) on 133, nine under.
U.S. trio Steve Lowery, Kevin Sutherland and Gene Sauers shared fifth place on 134, with Canada’s Stephen Ames, Rory Sabbatini of South Africa and American pair Jim McGovern and Blaine McCallister all bracketed together on 135.
Barlow, who led following the third round of The International earlier this month, twice had surgery in the close-season and did not start the 2002 campaign until The Players Championship in late March.
He has struggled since then, missing the cut in eight of 15 tournaments. “It’s been frustrating but I promised myself through this whole thing that I was going to be patient,” he said.
The 30-year-old from Henderson, Nevada underwent surgery on his left shoulder before having an operation on his right hip eight weeks later.
In The International, won by U.S. PGA champion Rich Beem, Barlow faded to seventh, which was still his best finish of the season. The best finish of his career is a tie for third at the 1999 Buick Challenge.
Barlow had four birdies and a bogey on both his outward and inward nines and needed only 24 putts. His bogey on the 18th cost him a share of the tournament record of 11-under-par for 36 holes.
Second round scores
132 Craig Barlow 67 65
133 Robert Allenby (Australia) 71 62, David Gossett 67 66, Peter Lonard (Australia) 66 67
134 Gene Sauers 69 65, Steve Lowery 67 67, Kevin Sutherland 67 67
135 Stephen Ames (Canada) 68 67, Blaine McCallister 68 67, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 68 67, Jim McGovern 67 68
136 Carlos Franco (Paraguay) 68 68, Tommy Tolles 67 69, Harrison Frazar 68 68, Jeff Gove 67 69, Chris Riley 68 68, Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 66 70, Stephen Gangluff 69 67
137 Per-Ulrik Johansson (Sweden) 68 69, Mark Calcavecchia 68 69, Tripp Isenhour 71 66, David Frost (South Africa) 65 72, Matt Peterson 70 67, Joel Edwards 68 69, Tom Scherrer 68 69, Kent Jones 70 67, Eduardo Herrera (Argentina) 70 67.—dpa/Reuters