Derksen best when the going gets tough

GOLF EUROPEAN TOUR: ROBERT-JAN DERKSEN is praying for the bad weather to continue over the final two rounds of the Ballantine’s Championship.

Derksen was one of the few golfers able to tame the conditions at the Pinx Golf Club on Korea’s Jeju Island, as the weather turned from light breezes and clear skies yesterday to strong, blustery winds this morning and heavy rain showers this afternoon.

He too found it tough at times, however, such as when he fired a double-bogey at the fourth to cost him an even bigger advantage.

Those shots and a further bogey aside, Derksen managed six birdies to end the round with a three-under 69, moving him onto nine under overall.

Gareth Maybin, Peter Lawrie and Paul McGinley all made the cut, which came at 145, but defending champion Graeme McDowell, Jonathan Caldwell and Damien McGrane all missed out.

Maybin shot 72 for 142 while McGinley and Lawrie made it on the cut-off mark of 145 after rounds of 72 and 75 respectively.

McDowell carded a 73 but missed out by four shots while Caldwell fired 74 for 150 and McGrane had a day to forget, shooting 84 for 153.

With other players struggling to better their scores from Thursday, and with strong winds predicted for the weekend, Derksen believes the harsh conditions may be to his advantage as he seeks a first top-10 finish on the European Tour this season.

“I think when the weather is really bad, you have to play a little bit more safe, because every par is actually a good score,” said the Dutchman, whose best result so far this year was 14th at the Johnnie Walker Classic in February.

“But of course, also depending what the other ones do, I think the bad weather, or difficult circumstances, would actually favour my kind of play.

“But I think the good thing of being the leader is you can see what the others are doing. So I’ll definitely have to be patient when it’s difficult weather.

“I guess it’s difficult for everyone. But to be in the lead after two days, it’s always a good starting point.”

New Zealand’s Mark Brown hit four bogeys in his last five holes to miss out on a share of the overnight lead.

Brown, who shared the first-round lead with Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano on seven under, had shot two birdies and no bogeys after 13 holes on the second day to join Derksen on nine under.

However, as the heavens opened in the afternoon, Brown struggled to cope with the conditions, suffering a bogey on the 14th, pulling it back with a birdie straight afterwards, but then hitting three bogeys in a row on his final holes to finish on one-over 73 for the day and six under overall.

Few other players in the afternoon round were making up much ground on the leaders, leaving Derksen two shots ahead of Thongchai Jaidee (71) and Kang Wook-Soon (69) who moved up to seven under in the morning to remain in the frame.

Pablo Martin, the first amateur to win a European Tour event when he came first in Estoril in 2007, repeated his round of 69 yesterday to move up to six under and join a three-way tie for third with Brown and Alessandro Tadini (71).

One of the major casualties was McDowell, who after a round of 76 had begun to claw his way back with two birdies in his first 10 holes.

But as the rain grew heavier McDowell carded bogeys on the 14th, 17th and 18th to finish one over for the day, and missed the cut by four shots at five over overall.

Also suffering, although not as much as McDowell, was Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who shot three consecutive bogeys during his two-over round of 74 that dropped him to a total score of five under.

World number nine Henrik Stenson and three-time major winner Ernie Els, who had warned the weather would make it a different course, had their totals of four under cut to two under after rounds of 74.

Els fared better than many others, however. Most notably American Fred Couples, who shot a three-under 69 in the first round but endured a torrid round of 76 yesterday to leave him at one over.

Couples, who started at the 10th, was one over at the turn after bogeys on the 11th and 13th were softened slightly by a birdie on the 14th.

He evened out his score with a birdie at the first, but then a disastrous run of three bogeys and a double-bogey in his next six holes served to undo all the 49-year-old’s good work yesterday.

American pair lead by two

BETH DANIEL and Meg Mallon lifted the USA into a two-shot lead at the Comunitat Valenciana European Nations Cup in Spain yesterday. The pair shot a five-under foursomes 67 at La Sella Resort in Denia, Alicante.

The Americans are on 11-under 133 after 36 holes, having fired 66 in Thursday’s opening day fourballs.

Gwladys Nocera and Anne-Lise Caudal from France were in second place after a round of 68. The Netherlands was a shot back, with first round leader Australia five shots off the pace in fourth on six-under-par.

“We’re as surprised as anyone but we’re also playing well at the right times. We’ll see what happens the next few days,” said Mallon, a 22-year veteran of the LPGA Tour, who has not played competitively since July due to injury. Daniel, The 2009 US Solheim Cup captain, quit the LPGA Tour after playing the Women’s British Open at St Andrews in 2007. She added: “I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself so we just take it one shot and one day at a time. I think we’re better off that way.”

Defending champions England struggled to a second round of 74 but remained just inside the top ten places in a share of ninth with Switzerland on 141.

Ireland’s Martina Gillen and Rebecca Caokley are a shot further back after a second 70.

PGA TOUR: Jerry Kelly, who walked off the course last week after taking 10 on one hole, was the early clubhouse leader on the second day of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans yesterday.

The 42-year-old added a 66 to his opening 68 to reach halfway on 10 under par, one in front of compatriots Troy Matteson and Charley Hoffman.

England’s Ian Poulter also shot 66 to leap into contention on seven under, but for the second day running Kenny Perry faltered late on, just as he had when on track for Masters glory two weeks ago.

Poulter, joint 20th at The Masters, went to the turn in 32 with birdies at the first, second, fifth and seventh, then sank putts of 20 and 16 feet at the 11th and 15th to move further through the field.

After starting the day down in 56th place he was up to joint sixth, but half the field had still to complete their second rounds.

They included overnight leader Charlie Wi and the Korean resumed with back-to-back birdies to improve to eight under and joint fourth with David Toms.

Perry, who bogeyed two of his last four holes in his first round 69, climbed to eight under on his return, but three-putted the eighth and then went in the water for a closing double bogey at the short ninth.

AMATEUR: Leona Maguire, the new French under-21 champion and last years Irish champion lived up to her star billing in the first round of the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Strokeplay Championship at yesterday.

The 14-year-old twin from the Slieve Russell club stunned a star-studded field with a first round of six-under-par 69 over the testing Troon Portland links to open up a three-stroke advantage. “I won the French Under-21 title a couple of weeks ago, so I am playing well,” said Leona.

Leona leads by two from two English players, Tilly Holder (Woburn) and Kym Larratt (Kibworth, Leicestershire), on the 72 mark.

Danielle McVeigh and Lisa Maguitre are on 74.

Second Round Scores

Ballantine’s Championship

(at Pinx GC, Jeju Island, South Korea)

(Irish in bold, Brit unless stated, par 72)

135 – R Jan Derksen (Ned) 66 69. 137 – W-S Kang (Kor) 68 69, T Jaidee (Tha) 66 71. 138 – A Tadini (Ita) 67 71, M Brown (Nzl) 65 73, P Martin (Spa) 69 69. 139 – B Grace (SA) 69 70, W-h Lin (Chn) 69 70, K-n Kang (Kor) 66 73, G Fdez-Castano (Spa) 65 74, S Benson 69 70, M Mamat (Sin) 69 70. 140 – S-h Kang (Kor) 69 71, S-y Noh (Kor) 71 69, S Barr (Aus) 68 72, R Dinwiddie 67 73, H-t Kim (Jpn) 68 72, A Dodt (Aus) 72 68, R Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 72, C-b Lam (Sin) 68 72, G Storm 72 68. 141 – B Rumford (Aus) 68 73, F Aguilar (Chi) 69 72, M Ilonen (Fin) 68 73, H-s Choi (Kor) 69 72, G-S Choi (Kor) 71 70, J Knutzon (USA) 67 74. 142 – S-s Hong (Kor) 68 74, Gareth Maybin 70 72, E Els (Rsa) 68 74, R Kulacz (Aus) 71 71, C Plaphol (Tha) 68 74, H Stenson (Swe) 68 74. 143 – G Ghei (Ind) 69 74, Z Scotland 70 73, N Dougherty 71 72, R Davies 70 73, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 68, I Steel (Mal) 70 73, M Brier (Aut) 71 72, J Kyung Mo (Kor) 70 73. 144 – F Delamontagne (Fra) 72 72, W-T Lin (Tai) 73 71, P Hedblom (Swe) 72 72, S Dyson 69 75, M-h Kwon (Kor) 72 72, P Larrazabal (Spa) 72 72, J-F Lima (Por) 72 72, P Meesawat (Tha) 71 73, A-S Wu (Chn) 69 75, I Van Weerelt (Ned) 70 74, L Westwood 71 73, D Singh (Ind) 73 71. 145 – W Chih Lu (Tha) 70 75, S Sri-sanga (Tha) 73 72, D Willett 69 76, K Eriksson (Swe) 71 74, A Tschudin (Aus) 70 75, Peter Lawrie 70 75, W Besseling (Ned) 71 74, E Tage Johansen (Nor) 73 72, O Henningsson (Swe) 73 72, T Oh (Kor) 70 75, M Fraser (Aus) 70 75, R Bland 73 72, J Huldahl (Den) 71 74, C Wood 75 70, S Drummond 70 75, T Wiratchant (Tha) 71 74, F Couples (USA) 69 76, F Zanotti (Par) 71 74, Paul McGinley 73 72, B Lane 71 74, H-s Kim (Kor) 69 76.

Missed cut (selected): 146 – J Van de Velde (Fra) 73 73. 149 – Graeme McDowell 76 73. 150 – Jonathon Caldwell 76 74, 151 – P Hanson (Swe) 73 78. 153 – Damien McGrane 69 84.

LET - Nations Cup

(La Sella Golf Resort, Alicante, Spain)

Second round (Par: 72) 133 - USA (B Daniel, M Mallon) 66 67 135 - France

(G Nocera, A Caudal) 67 68 136 - The Netherlands (C Boeljon, M Van der

Graaff) 66 70 138 - Australia (J Mills, N Garrett) 65 73 139 - Sweden (L Wahlin, CKoch) 71 68, Italy (G Sergas, V Zorzi) 69 70 140 - Spain (T Elosegui, P Marti) 73

67, Denmark (L Sorensen, I Tinning) 68 72 141 - Switzerland (F Luscher, F Seeholzer) 71 70, England (L Davies, L Hall) 67 74 142 - Ireland (Rebecca Coakley, Martina Gillen) 72 70, Wales (B Brewerton, Lydia Hall) 70 72 144 - Finland (K Ruuttila, U Wikstrom) 75 69, Russia (M Verchenova, A Kostina) 72 72 145 - Germany (M a Eberl, D Charlotte Becker) 70 75, Scotland (L Kenny, C Queen) 69 76 146 - Norway (L Kristin Saether, M e Skarpnord) 70 76 147 - Slovakia (Z Kamasova, V Falathova) 72 75 149 - Belgium (E Smets, L Tadiotto) 73 76 170 Austria (N Gergely, E Steinberger) 70 100.

Classic of New Orleans

(TPC Louisiana · Avondale, La)

Second round: 134 - Jerry Kelly 68 66, 135 - Troy Matteson 71 64, Charley Hoffman 69 66, 136 - David Toms 68 68, 137 - Kevin Stadler 70 67, Ian Poulter (Eng) 71 66,

David Mathis 72 65, 138 - K.J. Choi (Kor)72 66, Greg Owen (Eng) 70 68, Eric Axley 67 71, Roland Thatcher 68 70, 139 - Kenny Perry 69 70, Y.E. Yang 69 70, Joe Ogilvie 70 69,

Paul Goydos 69 70, Ryan Moore 68 71,

140 - Scott Piercy 71 69, Boo Weekley 72 68, Nicholas Thompson 70 70, Matt Bettencourt 70 70, 141 - Dudley Hart 70 71,

Webb Simpson 70 71.

SCOTTISH WOMEN’S OPEN

(Troon, Portland)

First round: 69 - Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell). 72 - T Holder (Woburn), K Larratt (Kibworth) 73 - R Wyn Thomas (Vale of Glamorgan), M Ricordeau (Fra), K Walker (Buchanan Castle), H Clyburn (Woodhall

Spa). 74 - S Birks (Wolstanton), L Andre (Fra), E Brown (Malton Norton), Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down), C Wild (Mere), Lisa Maguire (Slieve Russell), A Strang (Swe), L Chemarin (Fra). 75 - Gillian Monteith (Portpatrick Dunskey), K MacDonald (Nairn Dunbar), L Murray (Alford). Other Irish: 82 - Aedin Murphy (Carlow), 83 - Niamh Kitching (Claremorris). 84 - Sarah Crowe (Tipperary), 87 - Karen Delaney (Carlow).

TEAM: 147 - France (M Ricordeau 73, L Andre 74). 148 - Scotland (K Walker 73, K MacDonald 75). 150 - Wales (R Wyn Thomas 73, T Davies 77). 152 - Ireland (Leona Maguire 69, N Kitching 83).

153 - Sweden (A Dahlberg-Soderstrom 76, L Larsson 77).