English golfer Lee Slattery carded a 6-under 66 on Friday to lead the Madrid Masters by one shot at the halfway stage.
Slattery hit seven birdies and one bogey in the second round at El Encin Golf Hotel to lie 11-under for the tournament.
He leads Spanish golfer Eduardo de la Riva and Italian Ryder Cup player Francesco Molinari going into the final two rounds at the weekend.
Photo: AFP
Defending champion and No. 1-ranked player Luke Donald of England pulled to within three shots of the lead at one point, but fell back with two bogeys in the final three holes to card a 70 and move to 6-under for the tournament.
Meanwhile, Scottish golfer Elliot Saltman hit a hole-in-one to earn a tasty prize — his bodyweight in ham.
Saltman holed from the tee at the par-3 third to claim the reward.
“I’ve been trying to lose weight, but now I’m thinking I should have just kept it,” Saltman said.
The Scottish golfer has a knack of carding holes-in-one — he hit two in different rounds at the 17th hole in the Wales Open in June.
Saltman was given a three-month ban from the European Tour in January for marking his ball incorrectly at a Moscow tournament in September last year.
He was the first professional to be banned from the European Tour since 1992, when Johan Tumba of Sweden was suspended for 10 years for altering his scorecard at qualifying school.
Heavily cured and salted ham is a Spanish delicacy and was the prize on offer at the third — rewards for holes-in-one on other holes included a car and a watch.
“I see the Volvo and the Audemars watch are up as well, but I’ll take 12 stone [76kg] of ham any day,” Saltman said. “To get a hole-in-one in any tournament is just brilliant.”
Despite the feat, the No. 686-ranked player is well off the leaders’ pace — after two rounds he was 3-over and 14 shots behind clubhouse leader Lee Slattery of England.
Saltman’s only problem now is getting the “excess baggage” back to Scotland.
“I don’t think they’ll let me take that on the plane,” he said.
FRYS.COM OPEN
AP, SAN MARTIN, CALIFORNIA
Tiger Woods made the cut at the Frys.com Open after running off three straight birdies early in his round and surviving a bumpy patch in the middle for a 3-under 68 on Friday.
The former No. 1 player was seven shots behind leader Paul Casey, who was making a revival of his own.
Woods ended a streak of six straight rounds in which he failed to break par. He has played so little this year that it was the first time since the Masters that he made a 36-hole cut.
Casey won on the South Korean tour last week and brought his form to Cordevalle. He had a 7-under 64.
The start of the second round was delayed because of heavy fog.
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