Friday, October 8, 2010

Westwood hints at end of season

Second-round leaderboard:
-12
J Parry (Eng) St A -8 M Erlandsson (Swe) C -7 A Quiros (Sp) St A
R Fisher (Eng) St A, M Kaymer (Ger) St A -6 G McDowell (NI) St A,
Selected others: -5 P Harrington (Ire) St A, T Bjorn (Den) K -3 F Molinari (It) St A -2 L Westwood (Eng) St A -1 D Clarke (NI) St A level E Els (SA) St A, C Montgomerie (Sco) St A +1 P McGinley (Ire) St A, R McIlroy (NI) St A, E Molinari (It) St A +7 J Daly (US) St A
St A - St Andrews C - Carnoustie K - Kingsbarns


Lee Westwood
Westwood found some awkward spots in his round of 72 at St Andrews

Lee Westwood hinted at another break from golf to recover from a persistent calf injury after two rounds of the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

The 37-year-old Ryder Cup star needs to finish in the top two to replace Tiger Woods as world number one but ended 10 shots off the pace at two under.

Westwood carded a level-par 72 on Friday and said: "I'm probably going to get through this and make a decision."

World number 177 John Parry holds a four-shot halfway lead at 12 under.

Last week's Ryder Cup, in which Westwood scored two-and-a-half points out of a possible four as Europe regained the trophy, was the Englishman's first competitive golf since August.

Asked after his round at St Andrews if there would be a lengthy break planned after this event he said: "Could be, yeah. My gut instinct is to get it better. I'm just consciously thinking about it and the longer the day goes on the worse it gets.

"It's not great and shutting down for the rest of the year is an option."

Ironically, if he were to miss the defence of his Portugal Masters title next week Westwood would overtake Woods at the top of the rankings as they are calculated over a two-year period at the end of this month.

606: DEBATE
taylormade

Nine of Europe's Ryder Cup players are in the field in the pro-am event in Scotland, plus captain Colin Montgomerie and vice captains Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley.

Ross Fisher was the most successful of the Ryder Cup players at seven under after carding a 68 at St Andrews, but was surprised by the severity of the conditions at the Old Course.

"When we saw the forecast it seemed like this was probably the best of the three courses to be at, but that was about as brutal as I've ever seen the back nine play," he said.

"I wouldn't have come here if I didn't feel like my game was ready to win. Obviously the celebrations [after the Ryder Cup] were pretty good, but I wouldn't say I feel tired."

However, Rory McIlroy drove into gorse and ran up a double bogey at the sixth at St Andrews en route to a 74 that left him in a tie for 65th place at one over.

Montgomerie, now ranked 425th in the world, had three successive bogeys from the 12th at St Andrews, but birdied the last for a second successive level-par round of 72.

Rookie Parry, a former Walker Cup team-mate of McIlroy, won his maiden title at the Vivendi Cup in Paris the week before the Ryder Cup.

"It's taken him maybe a bit longer to develop than some of the other guys [from the Walker Cup three years ago], but he's a great player and with a win under his belt he's obviously become a lot more comfortable out in this environment," McIlroy said of the 23-year-old.

This tournament is played on rotation on three courses, Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews, with the latter also hosting Sunday's final round.

Potenshöjande medel -

No comments: