O'Hern leads as Faldo's revival continues

Australian left-hander Nick O'Hern, chasing a maiden title in his second year on the European Tour, moved into a two-stroke lead early in the Trophèe Lancôme second round on Friday.

O'Hern's tidy 2-under-par 69 for a 9-under-par 133 aggregate, gave the Western Australian the lead over 1999  Open champion Paul Lawrie, Jose Coceres of Argentina and the Swede Anders Hansen.

José Maria Olazábal had looked as if he would be sharing second place, but a late double-bogey saw the two-time Masters champion finish four shots off the pace with 72.

First-day leader Roger Wessels of South Africa slumped out of the event with a catastrophic 81 follow-up to his opening 63, missing the cut with an aggregate score of 144.

O'Hern, an advocate of the long "broomhandle" putter, overshadowed several major champions on his way to the lead, despite playing what he called a "scratchy" round.

"I double-bogeyed the last yesterday to prevent myself leading, so I got a bit of revenge on it today," he said.

"Playing and trying to beat top players is what we're in the game for but I'm only carrying on in Europe my competitive play from Australia."

He headed the reigning U.S. Masters champion Vijay Singh by five strokes. The left-hander has a double reason for wanting to win.

"It doesn't look as though I'm going to qualify for the Dunhill Cup team, but if I win, maybe it will change the selectors' minds," O'Hern said.

Nick Faldo gave a tantalising glimpse of what could be before a late stumble halted his charge in the Lancome Trophy in Paris.

For 16 holes it was vintage Faldo. There were six birdies and the return of a certain swagger in the stride of the six-time major winner as he marched down the fairways at St-Nom-La-Breteche.

Two off the lead with two downwind holes to play, the opportunity was there for the 43-year-old to climb to the top of the leaderboard and post his best score on the European tour for two years.

But instead he dropped shots on the 17th and 18th and had to settle for a second-round 67, five under for the tournament, and four off the lead held by Australian left-hander Nick O'Hern.

"It was disappointing to mess it up at the end," said Faldo.

"It's annoying to finish like that and it dampens what could have been a really great day. But it was good to go out and create a lot of birdie chances.

"I played really well and the ball was searching for the hole on the greens.

"At times my game feels good. Not like 10 years ago, but it's just a process of clawing my way back and every shot is a shot towards the world rankings and the Ryder Cup."

Faldo, without a win in Europe since 1994, had earlier picked up six birdies and narrowly missed another on the par-five 16th before coming to a sticky end.

On the 17th he three-putted after missing from four feet and at the par-three 18th thinned a bunker shot through the green into another bunker, eventually holing a brave 10-foot putt for a bogey.

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