On the sort of day occasionally sent from the heavens, Jesper Parnevik's mind wasn't always on this planet - or concentrating on golf - but, ultimately, even intricate mathematical equations couldn't prevent the American-based Swede from leapfrogging over Sergio Garcia, who showed himself to be a mere mortal, to assume the midway lead in the Standard Life Loch Lomond tournament yesterday.
For the first time in six rounds, Garcia failed to shoot a round in the 60s; and the pack pounced. Parnevik's move proved to be the most successful, his second round 67 for 11-under-par 137 enabling him to take a one stroke advantage over the Spanish teenager. But others, among them Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie, also manoeuvred themselves into threatening positions to add considerable intrigue to the tournament's final 36-holes.
And, yet, at a time when Parnevik was preoccupied with a brainteaser given to him by his caddie, the day's best golf was being played by Des Smyth. Having finished his first round bogeydouble bogey on Wednesday, the 46-year-old Irishman gained some revenge on the course with a second round 64 for four-under par 138, which left him a shot ahead of the only other Irish survivor Darren Clarke.
Parnevik's rise to the top, meanwhile, was two-fold: in part due to an off-day from Garcia, but also the result of another fine day of shot-making with only a couple of indiscretions preventing him establishing a larger lead. "I made a lot of sloppy mistakes," he conceded.
The most noticeable slip was on the 10th green where Parnevik missed a two-footer for his par. "I couldn't believe what had happened," he said. "I was thinking about some maths problem I was trying to figure out in the morning and, after 10 holes, I still hadn't figured it out. All of a sudden, I had a four footer for bogey."
His puzzle? "Well, you take the circumference of the earth and put a piece of rope around it - it should be about 25,000 miles. If you put in a stake three feet above the ground, what is the difference? I think it is about 20 yards, and my caddie thinks it is about 10,000 or something. After I missed that putt I got a bit frustrated and put it on hold."
Parnevik responded with back-to-back birdies immediately following that bogey and, after taking a two shot lead over Garcia with a birdie from 10 feet at the 15th, he played a "bad chip" to the last for yet another bogey. "We're going to have an interesting final two days with the leaderboard we have - anyone from five-under up could win yet," he said.
It wasn't practical to believe that Garcia could maintain a sequence that saw him get progressively better with 69-68-67-64 in winning last week's Murphy's Irish Open and then open on Wednesday with a first round 62. Yesterday, the fireworks stopped. After shooting a round of 70, Garcia admitted: "The last week has been really hard. But it is good to see that I can score like that without really playing well."
His solution last evening was to go for a jog and take some vitamin drinks. "I just didn't play well," said Garcia. "It was just one of those days."
Among the main movers was Montgomerie who fired a second round 65 to move three shots behind Parnevik in a group that also contains David Park and Roger Winchester. And the Scot couldn't resist having a little dig at the young Spaniard for mentioning the taboo score of 59 after his first round. "That was an odd thing to say, that you could break 60," said Monty. Later Garcia was surprised to hear of such a comment. "I didn't say that I should have shot 59, or deserved to shoot it, just that I could have," he remarked.
Meanwhile, just two Irish players - Smyth and Clarke - managed to survive the cut. Paul McGinley (71 for 144), Padraig Harrington (73 for 146), Eamonn Darcy (75 for 148), John McHenry (76 for 148) and Philip Walton (76 for 149) all departed the scene and must face into final qualifying over the weekend for next week's British Open at Carnoustie. Ironically, the only two Irishmen exempt for the major managed to stay in this tournament.
Smyth could barely contain his delight after producing the day's low round. "I was gutted, quite disgusted, after my first round finish. I just wanted to make the cut so badly because I'm exempt for the British Open and I didn't fancy hanging around waiting." His response was as good as it gets, an error free round that contained six birdies including four-in-a-row from the 13th, a notorious stretch of tough holes.
"I hate to say it, because with golf you get a kick up the backside when you think you've conquered it, but I'm really playing well," said Smyth. His low round on tour came in the Austrian Open in 1990 when he had a 62, but yesterday's gave him greater satisfaction. And two sand saves at the 17th and 18th, holes which had cost him dearly the previous day, made it all the more pleasing.
Clarke, though, failed to ignite and, despite the favourable conditions, could only manage a second round 70. "It wasn't one of my better days," he said. "I didn't putt well. I didn't drive the ball well. I just didn't play very well."
