Golf/European Tour: Thomas Bjorn is a man who sets himself high standards and is currently not getting remotely close to them. The first Dane to play Ryder Cup golf had an eight-under-par 64 yesterday in the second round of the French Open, at the Paris National club, and then spent an age explaining why it really did not mean that much.
Bjorn, in addition to being a fine practitioner, is a clear thinker on the game and what it takes to succeed in it. But then he has suffered enough of the game's perversities, illnesses and a slump in the world rankings from 10th to 44th, to make informed judgments such as he did yesterday.
For instance, while admitting that 64 was "special" he also said: "I'm not going to say I am back where I want to be because one round doesn't take you back anywhere. I had a couple of good bounces today which might not have gone my way and then I would have had 67, which is good but not special."
He went on: "If I had shot 76 today I would still have gone to the range afterwards and done my work. That is what I have been doing and what I am going to do and we will see how far it goes. I know I still need to put in the work to get to where I want to be."
Where he is at the moment is in the lead, with a 10-under total of 134, two ahead of a five-strong phalanx of players including compatriot Anders Hansen, England's David Howell and Philip Golding, Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.
Justin Rose and Miguel Angel Martin were one shot further back, one shot ahead of Ireland's Graeme McDowell, after he added a fine 68 yesterday to his opening 70. Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie and Ronan Rafferty all ended the day on two-under par 142, after shooting 74, 73 and 72 respectively.
Paul McGinley just made the cut, finishing on the 143 after his second round 72. Less fortunate was Philip Walton, who could only better his first round 77 by two shots yesterday.
Jose Maria Olazabal, looking for his second win in the event in three years, fired a 68 to vault into a share of ninth at six-under 138, four off the lead.
What Bjorn has done, in effect, is rededicate himself to golf. He was asked yesterday if he thought he could have done better than that 10th ranking and said: "I thought I could go a lot lower than that and I still do. I know I have the golf game and I think my best game is among the best in the world.
"But I don't perform my best all the time and I don't know why. Maybe the last year I haven't played enough. So I will be playing nine of the next 10 weeks because I seem to play my best when I get into a routine of playing a lot of tournaments."
Consistency is the goal of all those on tour and Bjorn spelled it out yesterday. Six weeks ago in Hamburg Bjorn, having missed the cut the previous week, played the weekend rounds in 65, 63 and lost a play-off to Padraig Harrington. The following week he missed the cut again.
"After Hamburg," said Bjorn, "I thought 'all the practice I have been doing is paying off', but it doesn't work like that. Four tournaments where you finish 10th are better than one where you finish second. That's what I say to players who have a good week - it doesn't mean they are back."
Guardian Service
Richard S Johnson shot a second round 66 to take a one-shot lead at the St Jude Classic, being played at the TPC at Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. The American ended the day on 130, 12-under par. David People also shot 66 to finish one shot behind. Swede Fredrik Jacobson was two shots further back, after shooting a 67, the same as David Toms who finished a further two shots back.
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