Oosthuizen leads in Andalucia, but Westwood sets new record MARBELLA, Spain -- Louis Oosthuizen held a one-shot lead after the second round of the Valle Romano Andalucia Open Friday, while Lee Westwood set a course record with an 8-under 64. Oosthuizen made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to finish his round with 5-under 67 and a total of 10-under 134 in the European Tour event.
The South African led France's Francois Delamontagne (66), first-round leader Matthew Zions of Australia (70) and recent Italian Open winner Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain (68). Steve Jones, the 1996 U.S. Open winner, is at 8-under 136, along with Westwood. Jones saw a bogey at No. 18 spoil his round of 67, which included an eagle 2 at the 15th. He was 60th at last week's Italian Open, and played this round with Westwood. "You can feed off each other and it was nice to see him really bombing it," Jones said. "He's going to be the one to catch the way he is playing." Jones, 48, is without a full U.S. Tour card, is happy playing on the Nationwide Tour and whichever PGA Tour events he can until becoming eligible for the senior circuit. Westwood changed putters, from a belly putter to a regular-length model, and had a bogey-free round. The Englishman moved into contention for his first European win in four years. "I used it in the first round of the Masters and swore I'd never use it again, but it seems to roll the ball well on these greens and anything would have been better than yesterday," said Westwood, who shot a 72 in the first round. "My long game has been pretty good all year and I just haven't been able to match it up with a decent putting round, so it was nice to get it right today," he said. David Higgins of Ireland (68), Sweden's Michael Jonzon (68), Richard McEvoy of England (68) and Spain's Carl Suneson (68) were tied for fourth, three shots back of Oosthuizen. "I couldn't tell you the last time I used the same putter for an extended period of time," Westwood explained. "I'd say there's about 200 in the garage. Ping will be ringing me up to get some of them back now! "I've even got about six belly putters of varying length, depending on my 'size,' shall we say!" Westwood's approach play still deserved much of the credit for his lowest score of the season, with a hat trick of birdies from the fifth coming from a combined distance of just 10 feet. Playing partner Fernandez-Castano remained on course for back-to-back victories following his Italian Open victory on Sunday. Along with fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, Fernandez-Castano is also staging the event and admitted he was feeling the effects on Thursday. "I had a good night's sleep and felt much fresher this morning," said the 26-year-old, who learned to play on the par-3 course adjacent to the tournament course. "If you told me on Monday, I would be 9 under after two rounds I wouldn't have believed you, so I can't complain," he added. "I feel more pressure from playing at home and I want to take care of little things because I would like everything to be fantastic. "It's amazing, you don't realize how much work people do behind the scenes and now you appreciate everything that goes on at the tour every week," he said. "I know everyone in the clubhouse and have great memories of playing here so it's great to be playing a tour event at Aloha." Delamontagne is in second place despite not feeling 100 percent. "I felt a little under the weather this morning, a sore throat and a few shivers, and I drank a bottle of water on every hole," said Zions, one of only six players to earn their European Tour card by coming through all three stages of the qualifying school. "But I feel pretty good now and it's always nice to finish with a birdie," he said. "My wife told me last night I was the outright leader, which I could probably have done without, but I know it doesn't matter until Sunday." Copyright 2007 Associated Press and PA Sport. All rights reserved. |