Two years ago, when Colin Montgomerie dominated Europe like an all-conquering titan, Thomas Bjorn would have taken a suitably deferential view of the situation. But heading into this weekend at Fota Island, the Dane sees the tournament leader as decidedly vulnerable at the halfway stage of the Murphy's Irish Open.
"This is not the old Monty," said Bjorn, after carding a scrappy 69 to be in a share of third place, three strokes adrift on seven under par.
"Where he would have cruised to the title, he now has to go out and fight for it. Which means that for me, his three-stroke lead is nothing." Indeed the times have changed. Only in March of this year, Bjorn outscored no less a figure than Tiger Woods when capturing the Desert Classic in Dubai. And despite a tight leaderboard, he seems the logical challenger over the remaining 36 holes.
Freshening winds off the Lee estuary increased the difficulty of a course which continued to draw rich praise from notoriously demanding practitioners. The greens, completely restructured and reseeded only two years ago, remained in superb condition, even after being trampled by 156 pairs of spiked feet.
And it was good to hear appreciative words from the rank and file. Like 26-year-old Londoner Anthony Wall, who captured the Alfred Dunhill Championship last year. Away from the main groups, the fairway ropes were largely redundant, yet Wall was delighted at being watched by "up to 20 or 30 people," on his way to a 67 for a total of eight under par.
"As a pro, it's natural that you would want to impress people, so an audience is very important," he said. "And these spectators are special, so sports conscious. They know the game and some of them even called me by name. Terrific." All of which helped him to five birdies, including two on his last three holes, which left him in sole second place.
But the venue did little for the Irish cause as Thursday's hero Eamonn Darcy drifted out of contention with a 75 and Padraig Harrington battled simply to avoid being swallowed up in the pack. After the rich promise of the opening round, only four out of an original 21 made the level-par cut with Paul McGinley surviving on the limit.
A major casualty, however, was the 1990 champion Jose Maria Olazabal whose 75 was two strokes too many.
Montgomerie knew he had done well to move to 10 under par after successive birdies at the long fourth (20-foot putt), long fifth (chip to one foot) and sixth (sandwedge approach to one foot). "My target was to get to double figures and I'm happy to have done it," he said after a 69 which contained 32 putts, as opposed to the 25 of Thursday.
"This is a very, very good golf course and the greens are fantastic," the Scot enthused. "And the blustery conditions, along with some tough pin placements, made it a real test." Ironically, the key to Montgomerie's score was making a highly acceptable bogey at the treacherous par-four 12th where he pulled his drive into the water on the left.
The resultant penalty-drop left him with a shot of 213 yards out of rough to the elevated green. And in a repeat of the shot-making skills we witnessed on Thursday, he hit a three-wood recovery on to the green where he eventually sank a six-footer for a five.
Given the victories of Per-Ulrik Johansson and Mathias Gronberg in the Smurfit European Open and Patrik Sjoland's triumph at Ballybunion last year, it would seem odd not to have a Swede in serious contention. And the banner this weekend is being carried by a 26-year-old who looked like challenging for the lead when he went to nine under after a birdie on the 14th.
But Fredrik Henge - known as Stony in the caddieshack, naturally - has the miserable record of 11 missed cuts in 16 events so far this season. And fragile confidence showed in bogeys at the 15th and 16th.
Meanwhile Bjorn, who started on the 10th two groups ahead of Montgomerie, was competing in his 11th tournament in this country. Surprisingly, he has not done better than a fourth behind Sergio Garcia in the Irish Open at Druids Glen two years ago.
As an indication of the wind strength, he needed no more than an eight-iron second to reach the green at the 507-yard 18th, which he two-putted for a birdie. The Dane then went to the top of the leaderboard at nine under par for the tournament, but his dominance was short-lived. Two bogeys pushed him back out of the limelight, very much a temporary situation, in his view.
So, Montgomerie enters the weekend in the familiar position of target man. And we wait and wonder whether Bjorn's assessment of vulnerability is valid, or simply the wishful thinking of a talented aspirant.
