Some of golf's young tigers chose to roar, a number of them even managing to dislodge Colin Montgomerie from the head of the pack, on a day when the Irish contingent gritted their teeth and showed commendable survival instincts in the second round of the English Open at Hanbury Manor, north of London, yesterday.
Stephen Leaney, a 29-year-old tour rookie from New Zealand who has already won in Morocco this season, and in-form Swede Patrik Sjoland, a former tour school winner who continues to grow in confidence and stature, shared the midway lead on nine under par 135 - a shot clear of Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Fabrice Tarnaud - after a second round when the rough again devoured some victims, most notably defending champion PerUlrik Johansson who missed the cut.
One of the most eventful rounds of all was enacted by Christy O'Connor Junior who chipped in three times to join Ronan Rafferty on three under par 141 to lead the Irish challenge, while Padraig Harrington and, despite a poor finish, Philip Walton demonstrated their fighting qualities to recover from poor opening rounds to make the cut on one under par 143 along with Eamonn Darcy, while Darren Clarke scraped in the level-par mark. The only two Irish players to exit were Des Smyth (who birdied the last two in a vain bid for survival, missing out by one) and Raymond Burns, who took three shots too many.
With just nine shots covering the field, the way is still open for someone to emerge from the pack, something not lost on the remaining Irish. Indeed, Harrington was still practising his chipping some four hours after finishing his round. Harrington and Walton both fired second rounds of 69 to emerge from the danger zone, although both did so in quite different ways. Harrington backboned his round with a run of three birdies in four holes from the 15th (his sixth) to the 18th. With the US Open his next assignment, the Dubliner is quite insistent that his game is in good shape.
Likewise, Walton, who, with just three holes remaining was six under par for his second round, before incurring a bogey at the seventh (his 16th) when he "duffed" a wedge shot into a bunker, and then a double bogey six at the next where he sky-hooked a five wood out of rough into water. But nothing compared with O'Connor's round. "I'd some escapades, that's for sure," remarked the Galwayman. Among his antics was to chip in from a greenside bunker for an eagle three at the second (his 11th hole), having already holed out with a bunker shot for a birdie two at the 11th, his second. For good measure, he also holed another chip at the seventh for a mere par.
"When I left Senior last week, he told me that he'd never seen anyone drive the ball better, but I've lost it and you just can't miss the fairway here," said Junior. Darren Clarke could concur. The Dungannon man added another 72 to finish on the cut-off mark and barely survive for the weekend.
Westwood, who is among those relishing the tough conditions, shot a second successive 68 to be in a predatory position. In contrast, Montgomerie, the firstround leader, didn't find his touch until the closing holes, covering the last six holes in three under par to rescue his round which included an untypical double bogey seven at the par five second.
Monty needed to cover the back nine in 33 to salvage a level par round of 72, and, ironically, Leaney, one of those who overtook him, performed a similar feat.
Meanwhile, despite incurring three bogeys in yesterday's round, a confident Sjoland showed his ability to make a score by also sinking eight birdie putts on his way to a 67 which enabled him to leapfrog over Montgomerie at the top of the midway leaderboard.
