Rose holds slight advantage

Justin Rose and Padraig Harrington will go head-to-head for the second time in three days at Valderrama tomorrow but with one big difference from their opening round duel.

With the European Order of Merit title up for grabs Rose now leads the field and has a four-shot advantage over the Open champion after firing a brilliant best-of-the-day 68 in the second round of the season-ending Volvo Masters.

When they set off together in the final group at the start of the tournament Harrington was the one with the edge, leading Rose by the tiny but important matter of £461 in their money list battle.

It meant the 27-year-old not only had to finish at worst third in the event - that is what it takes for him and Harrington to go above table-topping Ernie Els, who chose not to play in Spain - but also had to be ahead of the Irishman.

There is still a long way to go but after a second successive 71 lifted him from fifth to second spot Harrington said he suspected Rose has a burning desire to take the title this weekend.

Despite his rapid rise up to 12th in the world rankings - he could even be sixth after the next two days - Rose has not put his hands on a trophy since the Australian Masters last November.

"He's had a great year, but I think he's very hungry for a win," commented the Dubliner, himself a stroke ahead of third-placed quartet Graeme McDowell, Soren Kjeldsen, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Jyoti Randhawa.

"Players are very much motivated by that. If he hasn't had a win he wants it all the more. That's our hunger."

While adding that a four-shot gap is "substantial", Harrington also has the experience to know there is a long, long way to go and while he tasted victory in 2007 for the fourth time in Morocco only last Sunday he added: "I really want to win the Order of Merit."

He will also feed off the fact that a year ago he was four behind and tied for 13th with only one round to go, bogeyed the first two holes to drop to 20th and then came charging back into the joint second place he required to pip Paul Casey for the number one spot.

The day began well for Rose even before he got to the course. After being sick with a stomach bug on day one a good night's sleep did the trick and he was back to normal on waking up.

"I felt so much better," he said. "I was really, really happy with that round of golf. Any time you have the lowest score of the day (he did it by two) it's an achievement."

Having holed-in-one at the 196-yard third in his opening 70 he nearly did it again - and called his five-iron to a foot an even better shot than the six-iron because he was between clubs and chose to hold it into the wind.

The Florida-based Englishman did bogey the fifth, seventh and ninth, but there was also another birdie in that stretch of holes and on the back nine he picked up more shots on the 10th, 11th, 13th and 17th.

A curling 25-footer found the hole on the penultimate green after he had taken the advice of caddie Mick Doran to lay up short of the lake with a wedge rather than go for the green with a five-iron.

"All you need is a voice of reason," he added. "I was ready to go and if he had given me the green light I would have done. But I have an experienced caddie and he said I could still make four laying up."

Harrington started the better of the two, collecting birdies at the fourth and fifth.  But there were to be no more and he bogeyed the sixth and 18th, where he missed the green left and failed to get up and down.

McDowell led by one from Paul McGinley after his opening 68, but neither could do better than 75 and McGinley's bogey-bogey finish left him bitterly disappointed. Instead of being joint second he is now seventh.

Colin Montgomerie would have been second as well if he had parred the last four but the eight-time Order of Merit leader bogeyed three of them.

It is not quite a straight fight between Rose and Harrington for the money list yet, however.

While Henrik Stenson appeared to fall out of the race by adding a 78 to his opening 76, fellow Swede Niclas Fasth, who also has to win on Sunday to have a chance, climbed from 23rd to 10th with a 70.

A 60-foot eagle putt on the 17th raised his spirits "tremendously" after a round when little seemed to be happening for him.

Now three over, seven behind, Fasth stated: "I'm too far back for my own liking, but it could work out. Who knows? We could have a dramatic end to it."

Ronan Rafferty and Sandy Lyle wish they could say the same, but they have tailed off from the rest of the 55-strong field.

Lyle, who had five left-handed air shots in his initial 84, is now 23 over after an 81, but is still seven ahead of Rafferty, who slumped to a second round 89 after coming out of retirement for his first tour event in over four years.

The 1989 champion predicted some "shocking" shots after playing so little and he was not wrong.