Golf:Danny Willett returned to a happy hunting ground in Seville today and with a second successive 68 stayed in contention for a first European Tour title. The 22-year-old reached halfway in the Spanish Open on eight under par and with half the 156-strong field only just teeing off was two behind Swede Johan Edfors.
Two years ago the English player was the world’s number one amateur when he played at the Real Club course and in only his second European Tour start fired a third-round 64.
“I think I got to about 10 under that day, but the cameras then came and I got a bit scared,” he said. “Now it’s just a sign that you are doing well.”
By his own admission the former Walker Cup player — he was a team-mate of Rory McIlroy in 2007 — did not play well in Wednesday’s pro-am. But he now believes it was a blessing in disguise.
“I saw the brutality of the rough and realised you really can’t go in it, so I’m not hitting as many drivers as I usually do.”
After only 11 putts in a back-nine 35 he had four birdies and a bogey in his last six holes, hitting a nine-iron to four feet on the eighth and two-putting the long ninth.
Edfors, whose three Tour wins all came in 2006, was five adrift of Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez at only two under overnight, but turned in 32 and then added four more birdies to reach 10 under.
Gonzalez, yet to resume, was down into a tie for third with Edfors’s fellow countryman Mikael Lundberg and also Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and little-known Spaniard Carlo Del Moral, a sufferer from the chronic sleep disorder narcolepsy.
Darren Clarke, meanwhile, had to wait to see if his level-par aggregate was good enough to survive the cut — he improved six shots on his initial 75 — while Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie set off again at one under.
On five under, Damien McGrane remains the leading Irish challenger.