PIETERS ON TOP AS BIG GUNS SHINE
IT WOULD be hard to find a more perfect day at a golf tournament than yesterday’s second round at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Here a classy leaderboard took shape featuring one of the world’s great young talents in Thomas Pieters, Open champion Henrik Stenson and a perennial favourite, Lee Westwood.
There were impressive rounds from two of the great crowd pleasers, Ian Poulter and Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, and a whiff of controversy, as the South African Branden Grace defended himself against whispers he had been given a favourable ruling that was just too favourable.
There was also a stunning surprise, as Olympic gold medallist Justin Rose ran up an eight at the sixth — he shanked a fairway bunker shot out of bounds — to fall spectacularly from contention before a gutsy eagle at the last saw him make the halfway cut.
It all took place against the sort of clear blue sky we see half a dozen times a year, in front of an enormous crowd dressed in shorts and T-shirts whose most difficult decision was whether to seek refuge at a beer stand, a cocktail outlet or the ice-cream van.
Given the fact they’ve all focused their energies on this flagship event for one reason or another, it was no surprise to see Pieters, Stenson and Westwood deliver. Pieters, desperate to see his name on a trophy featuring the names of Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam, shot 69 to follow his opening 68 and the 23-year-old Belgian, tied for the halfway lead with Scott Jamieson from Scotland and Italian Frankie Molinari, will take some beating this weekend.
Stenson, so proud to be proclaimed the Champion Golfer, came here intent on living up to the title and has done so to date to be just two behind.
And then there’s Westwood, never a winner of this event despite 23 previous tries but who’s back in the mix once more, level with Stenson.
‘What a joy to play here on a course that makes you think on every shot,’ said Westwood, 44.
‘We play so many where the caddie could hand you the driver and walk up the fairway for all the thought you need to show. This is how it should be, and particularly now the greens are right.’
Even players who didn’t putt well, like Poulter, didn’t seek to deflect the blame. ‘I just don’t feel comfortable standing over 15-foot putts,’ lamented Poulter, who said he turned a potential 65 into a 69 because of his putting. ‘I’ve hit 17 out of 18 greens in regulation on a tricky course, so I know the game is in shape,’ he said. ‘My putting was pathetic.’
At least he’s around for the weekend — in considerable doubt after his opening 76 — and an early tee-time means the Arsenal fan will be finished in time to watch the FA Cup final today.
As for Jamieson, the 33-year-old from Glasgow recovered manfully from a wretched start to muster seven birdies in a 70.
The state of grace was disturbed only by the disquiet expressed by a few pros at a free drop given on Thursday to the South African Grace. Plugged in the face of a bunker, referee Andy McFee gave him the drop because of an artificial rubber surface lying a few centimetres below the sand and Grace contended it prevented him from taking his stance.
Danny Willett was among those to tweet his disbelief, while Grace argued: ‘ Sometimes the rules work in your favour and sometimes they don’t.’
Grace lies two shots off the lead and will hear plenty more if he remains in contention.
Johnston crept into the top 15 after a fine 68 and told a story of his time in America, where on a night out in New Orleans he got the whole bar involved in a putting competition.
‘I put a pint glass down and said if anyone can hole a putt into it I’d buy everyone a round of drinks. Well, one or two kind of rolled in but came back out again — and I said: “That’s good enough for me”.’ Not hard to see why so many golfers see him as their ideal drinking companion, is it? RORY McILROY has pulled out of the Memorial Tournament in Ohio next week with his rib injury taking longer to heal than expected. It means he will not play again until the US Open next month.