Groom is tidily placed in Open Qualifying

Australia’s Adam Groom put himself firmly in contention for a place in the Open Championship when he fired a three-under-par 69 before lightning disrupted play in the second round of the Open International Final Qualifying on Wednesday.

With a two-day total of nine-under-par 135, Groom, 28, has a two stroke lead over compatriot Lee Woon-jon at the Sentosa Golf Club’s Tanjong Course.

Lee, who turned pro late last year, ended his day with a 70 before play was suspended at 1:41pm due to lightning. Play was resumed at 3:09pm.

India’s Shiv Kapur improved with a 67 for a 139 total alongside Korea’s Lee Sung and compatriot Young Nam who carded matching 69s in a tie for third place. Only the top five players will book their places for the Open Championship to be played at Carnoustie, Scotland in July.

“It was going on well until I struck a triple bogey on the ninth hole. But I knuckled down on the back nine and struck four birdies without a single bogey, so that was a good way to end the day,” said Groom.

Thanks to solid iron play, Lee fired three birdies against a lone bogey in his second straight attempt at the qualifier.

“It’s my first time playing here but it’s a nice course. I hit the ball solid but missed a lot of short putts. I was hoping to hole a couple more but hopefully I can squeeze in today.

“My iron shots were not good yesterday but it was on target today which helped a lot. I wasn’t putting too well but overall, I enjoyed myself out there,” said Lee.

Five strokes adrift was Chinese Taipei’s Yeh Wei-tze who fired a lowly 64 in joint sixth spot alongside India’s Gaurav Ghei who shot his second straight 70 with a similar feat by local talent Mardan Mamat.

March 28, 2007

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