British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen was still in the hunt for a Scandinavian Masters title on Friday to follow his first major win despite slipping off the second round lead at one stage.
The 27-year-old South African dropped five strokes off the pace but recovered gamely to card a two-under-par 70 and trail frontrunner K.J. Choi of South Korea by only two shots.
Choi took the halfway lead with a five-under-par 67, which moved him to nine-under 135.
Swede Richard Johnson stepped into second place in the afternoon with a 66 that left him a stroke adrift of Choi and a shot in front of Oosthuizen.
Oosthuizen lost ground badly when he hit into the lake at the par-three 17th, his eighth hole, to run up a double bogey and his putting was nowhere near the standard of St Andrews or the first round in Sweden.
“I didn’t putt as well as I have been doing and missed a few right-to-left putts, so I’ll be practicing those,” Oosthuizen told reporters.
Leader Choi, seeking a second European Tour title to go with seven wins on the US PGA Tour, holed a 25-foot birdie putt and slotted home from 10 feet for his eagle. However, he twice missed putts of about two feet as his form on greens continued to vary.
He is tinkering with a putting action from outside his right hip, once favored by Sam Snead, having seen the seven-times major champion using the action in a 1968 magazine.
Choi tried it in last week’s British Open but missed the cut and he said he was loath to use it this week.
“The greens are too sloping here to use that method,” he told reporters. “I’m very confident with my swing, though, and I just have to stay patient on the greens.”
■CANADIAN OPEN
REUTERS, TORONTO
Mike Weir’s 20th Canadian Open ended in a disappointing early exit on Friday, leaving it to PGA Tour debutant Adam Hadwin to lead the homegrown charge into the weekend.
For nearly two decades, Weir has been the golfer Canadians had pinned their hopes on to become the first homegrown winner of the national championship since Pat Fletcher in 1954.
Few of those Canadian Opens ended in more disappointment as Weir slumped to a second round four-over 74 and a two-round total of six-over 146 to finish ahead of only 11 players.
With Weir gone, the spotlight shifts to Hadwin, a 22-year-old Canadian Tour rookie.
Playing in his first PGA Tour event, Hadwin has delivered a fearless performance carding rounds of 68 and 66 to leave him the best-placed Canadian sitting on six-under 134 and four shots behind co-leaders Tim Clark and Dean Wilson.
“This right here is my dream,” a beaming Hadwin told reporters. “When I get out on the golf course it’s all business but off the course I kind of have to pinch myself and think is this really real.”
Hadwin is just one shot ahead of Stephen Ames, the four-time winner on the PGA Tour, who has moved into contention with rounds of 67 and 68.
A dejected Weir, who has now missed the cut in three of his last four starts including the British Open, refused to blame a bout of tendonitis that flared up earlier in the week and forced the 2003 Masters champion to wear a brace on his right arm.
“I just played poorly,” Weir shrugged. “No excuses; I just didn’t play well.”
The pressure on the diminutive left-hander to deliver on home turf and end a 56-year drought has grown and having just turned 40, the expectations this year seemed to weigh heavier as he struggled with tendonitis and form.
“When you have great support like that you want to give a better show,” Weir said. “The fans are great, I want to play well for them. I was trying as hard as I could and just struggled.”
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