|
Higgins vaults into lead
with 62
With his European Tour future
hanging in the balance, Ireland's David Higgins came up with the round of his
life in the Telefonica Madrid Open on Friday.
A nine-under-par 62 containing
nine birdies propelled the 28-year-old, 128th on this year's money list, into
the halfway lead on the 13-under-par total of 129.
He is a stroke ahead of
Order of Merit leader - come Sunday night that should be Order of Merit winner
- Retief Goosen and English pair Steve Webster and Brian Davis, Webster also scoring
a 62.
Finishing in the top 10
could spare Higgins a fifth trip to the tour qualifying school in three weeks'
time, but he is aiming much higher after finding a new way to play.
"I've been putting
too much pressure on myself and getting down, but coming here I just told myself
to relax," he said.
"If I do it I do it,
but if I don't I'll just go to the school.
"I have nothing to
lose and I'm trying not to think about the situation I'm in.
"Obviously the tournament
starts now for me, but with the position I am in, to do this at this time is fantastic.
It feels great."
Higgins nearly came up with
the perfect finish of a hole-in-one at the 177-yard ninth, but the ball stopped
an inch away from what would have been his seventh ace.
The tap-in gave him two
halves of 31 and the round would have been a new course record at Club de Campo
but for cleaning and placing being allowed on the wet fairways.
Higgins, the son of European
Seniors Tour player Liam, also holed seven putts of between 10 and 22 feet and
said: "I filled my mind with positive thoughts and holed some lovely ones."
When he won the Irish and
South of Ireland amateur titles in 1994 the player he beat in the final both times
was Padraig Harrington, this week's defending champion and first round leader.
The Ryder Cup player, who
also won the 1996 Spanish Open on the course, could not rediscover the magic of
his opening 63, a 72 dropping him six behind.
Goosen, round in 64, can now get the Order of Merit celebrations ready.
Darren Clarke, the only
player who can catch him, had only a 69 for six under and even if the Ulsterman
still comes through to win, Goosen, £473,000 clear, would have to collapse
totally to be overhauled.
"We have a couple of
eight-litre champagne bottles left over from our wedding earlier this year,"
said the South African.
"I'm off next week
and if it's settled here I am sure we can polish them off.
"I don't really like
it - Tracy does - but after a few glasses it does not matter!"
Webster, twice a runner-up
on tour since being leading amateur at the 1995 Open (ahead of Tiger Woods), even
had a bogey in his 62, but 10 birdies made it his best-ever round as well.
Davis birdied five of his
last seven holes to match Goosen's 64, having recently resolved to go back to
his old aggressive self.
"I've been stepping
onto the first tee with no adrenaline, no buzz, no nerves, which is a bad thing,"
explained the 27-year-old Londoner.
"Everybody had been
trying to get me to change, saying I couldn't win a major the way I was.
"But playing their
way my spark had gone and I was making cuts and doing nothing, so I'm playing
on pure emotion and aggression again.
"When I played football
I got fired up and I'm an aggressive person in any sport, so why change for golf?
"I almost stopped myself
being myself. Aggressive is the only way I can play. When I'm not like that I
don't commit to shots."
Email
this page to a friend | Return
to top of page
Genuity
International, sponsors Golf Today
|
