Mon, Jun 09, 2008 page19

• Singh dominates in Vienna with four stroke lead

  • AFP
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  India’s Jeev Milkha Singh hit a remarkable 63 in the second-round of the weather-hit Austria Open on Saturday, adding to his first round 64, to lead the field by four strokes.

  His 127 two-round total equalled the lowest first two round score on the European Tour this season to leave England’s Simon Wakefield, who followed Friday’s 66, with a 65, in second spot.

  Five shots behind Singh on joint third were New Zealand’s Mark Brown and Australia’s Peter Fowler.

  Singh has been in consistent form for the majority of the year with two second place finishes to his name.

  The Indian is naturally keen to go one step further, and he will have fewer better opportunities given that there is just 18 holes left to play at Fontana Golf Club after tournament Officials were left with no choice but to cut the event to 54 holes after the complete loss of play on Thursday.

  “I am very pleased with that,” Singh told a packed press conference after completing his 63. “I am happy with the way that I have played, especially today when I was bogey free and holed a great long putt on the last for eagle.”

  “I hit the ball really well today in fact I putted well too. To be 15 under after two rounds doesn’t come every often. I can remember when the last time was that I did that, it certainly not coming back to my memory so I might never have done it,” he said.

  “I am pretty happy with the way that I have managed myself and conducted myself on the golf course. I think when any golfer gets to certain score they can get anxious and get ahead of themselves so I am very happy with the way that I handled that,” he said.

  Barring a final round collapse from the leader, it seems that only Wakefield, Brown and Fowler — and perhaps the fifth placed trio of Richard Bland, Soren Hansen and Gary Murphy on nine under — have a realistic chance of catching Singh at the top of the leaderboard.

  Meanwhile, South African Tim Clark surged into the lead at the US$6 million St. Jude Championship in Memphis on Saturday with a third-round 64.

  Clark posted an eagle and three birdies of his four birdies over the final five holes, completing a bogey-free round that gave him a 54-hole total of five-under 205.

  “Certainly don’t expect to finish like that on this course,” Clark said. “Tough finishing holes, but I thought maybe I was going to do something. I hit a lot of good shots at the start of the round, had a lot of birdie opportunities, didn’t make anything, and all of a sudden, I make a big putt on the par-3 14th, which is certainly a hole you try to make three on.”

  “Hit a great shot into 15 and made about a 12-footer, which is nothing great there. But I think the big swing came on 16. I had 248 to the hole, took a chance and tried to hook one up the green. I pulled the shot off and that ran up to about three, four feet for eagle. So that was the big swing there,” he said.

  He was two strokes in front of a group of five golfers, including Masters champion Trevor Immelman of South Africa, Americans Marc Turnesa and Bill Haas, German Alex Cejka and Australian Gavin Coles sharing second on 207.

  Turnesa and Coles were among the six golfers who shared the lead heading into the round.

  Immelman and Haas both shot three-under 67. Immelman sank six birdies against three bogeys, while Haas offset a pair of bogeys with five birdies.

  “I played well today,” Immelman said. “I played great yesterday, which gave me some confidence in my long game, and I had it going again ... All in all, I actually managed my game quite well, and I’ve got a chance tomorrow. That’s all I can ask for.”
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