Woosnam grabs lead as Darcy slips at the end

Eamonn Darcy's late slips left him trailing the new Lancome Trophy leader Ian Woosnam by three strokes after the second round in Versailles yesterday.

Darcy's keen putting edge of the day before failed him just at the wrong time, reducing his bid to keep the lead by wasting three excellent birdie opportunities coming home.

It kept Darcy to a 71, level-par, and thus four-under-par still for the tournament.

Woosnam, who also claimed his putter let him down, nonetheless set up his first victory of the year and his third in this event by shooting a 67, just as Darcy had the day before.

This took the Welshman to seven-under-par, two better than a pair of illustrious names in Paris, the defending champion and current Masters and British Open holder, Mark O'Meara, and Colin Montgomerie, looking more and more as if he will yet steal his sixth order of merit success with a late run. With Montgomerie, O'Meara and Miguel Angel Jimenez, last year's Ryder Cup vicecaptain, is an intriguing name indeed.

It is that of 18-year-old Sergio Garcia, showing the pros a thing or two and not sparing modesty. Garcia said yesterday he was not only going "for everything" but "definitely going for victory" because that was his "mentality".

If the big-hitting young prospect, ready to step into the shoes of Seve and Ollie, does prevail tomorrow night, he will end a 36year-old record held by an Irishman. The last amateur to claim a tour title was Dr David Sheehan, from the Grange Club, who lifted the Jeyes trophy in 1962.

The Lancome Trophy in 1998 is still within the grasp of an Irishman. Darcy is not giving up his chance of glory in his dotage easily. Yesterday, despite threeputting, missing a seven-footer and needing three to get down from the fringe in the last four holes in a sacrifice of birdies, he was rallying his spirits in the direction of the £133,330 first prize tomorrow night. "I'm playing well and very happy with my game. I'll not mind winning coming from behind," Darcy said. "The round could all have added up to something similar to the day before if I'd been a bit tidier around the greens."

Woosnam, however, is going to take some stopping. To combat his putting indiscretions, Woosnam is producing exemplary iron-play and accurate driving.

"I'm on top of my game," he said. "I know I'm playing 99 per cent better than the rest of the field tee-to-green and I'm due to win any time. I have to sharpen up the putting, though. Last week I averaged 32.8 putts per round and today wasn't much better. Monty, in winning last week, needed only 29.2.

"That's three-and-a-half shots a round. I just can't give that kind of advantage away."

The putting ills stretched to Paul McGinley. His 70 to be two-under-par and with an outside chance of victory has come when he was in danger of missing the tournament altogether with an injured neck. Yesterday his only injuries came on the greens.

"I hit 16 greens," said the Dubliner, "and I was very pleased with the way I played, because everything's a bonus this week when I thought I wouldn't be able to take part. "But I could have squeezed a few more shots out of the course with better putting. That's what I'm going to work on so I can convert my chances into more birdies."

Philip Walton made it into the weekend after also coming back from injury to his right wrist, shooting a 70 to be on the cut mark of two-over. But the other half of the Irish half-dozen took the early flights. Des Smyth missed by two shots with a 72; Padraig Harrington's poor run continued with a 74 to be six-over and Raymond Burns' nightmare continued with a 76 for seven-over.