Friday, September 11, 2009

Wood has halfway lead in Cologne

SECOND ROUND LEADERBOARD:
-9 C Wood (Eng), S Strange (Aus) -8 R Fisher (Eng), S Hansen (Den), J Kingston (SA) -7 D Drysdale (Sco), N Fasth (Swe), G Storm (Eng) Selected others: -6 H Stenson (Swe) -5 L Westwood (Eng) -4 D Clarke (NI) -3 C Montgomerie (Sco) -2 G McDowell (NI), JM Olazabal (Spa)

Chris Wood
Wood finished third in the Open in July

Bristol's Chris Wood grabbed a share of the halfway lead at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne with a second-round 69 on Friday.

Wood, chasing his maiden European Tour title, is level with Australia's Scott Strange (68) on nine under.

England's Ross Fisher (69) is one back, alongside Denmark's Soren Hansen (71) and South Africa's James Kingston (69).

England's Lee Westwood (69) is five under, one ahead of Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke (70).

Wood and Strange can thank Hansen for their position atop the leaderboard, with the Ryder Cupper making double bogey at the last.

That has got to be some of the tightest flags I've ever played to

Joint leader Chris Wood

Wood, 21, did not card a bogey for the second day running and his round included a chip-in par at the short 8th and a holed bunker shot on the 458-yard 14th.

"It was a bit of a battle, but I'll take another 18 holes without a bogey - and hopefully another 36," said Wood.

Only two players, Englishman David J Russell and Swede Jesper Parnevik, have ever gone through a tournament without dropping a shot, and both of them won.

606: DEBATE
Does Wood have what it takes to win his maiden title?

"As long as I keep putting myself in position a win is going to happen. I just hope it's sooner rather than later," Wood said.

"The greens here are up there with the best I've ever putted on, but that has got to be some of the tightest flags I've ever played to."

Hansen had not dropped a shot himself over the the first 29 holes and led by three, but he bogeyed the 12th and 14th to bring the chasing pack back into things.

A birdie on the 523-yard 15th appeared to have settled the 2007 winner down again, but he hooked his drive down the 456-yard 18th into the water and then went over the green for three.

Fisher, with a chance to move up from sixth to third on the European money list and into the world's top 20, was joint leader with two to play, but pushed a pitch at 17 into the water and bogeyed and missed a birdie chance from under six feet on the last.

ะพ 8:36 AM

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