Immelman opens four shot lead

South African Trevor Immelman fired eight birdies to take the lead in the second round of the French Open, as Colin Montgomerie suffered yet another slump.

Immelman was in superb form, shooting a near-flawless round of 64, one shot off the course record, for a 12-under-par halfway total.

In contrast Montgomerie, who shared the overnight lead after a first round five-under-par 67, slumped to seven shots off the pace.

The Scot carded three birdies and three bogeys - two of those on par fives - for a level par 72.

Immelman's nearesrt rival Jean-Francois Remesy was four shots adrift after adding a 69 to his opening 67, with Scotland's Andrew Coltart, Sheffield's Malcolm Mackenzie and New Zealander Stephen Scahill a further shot back.

Immelman, runner-up in the Amateur championship in 1997, missed the cut in last week's Spanish Open.

But a swing fault spotted by new coach Claude Harmon - son of Tiger Woods' coach Butch - has been rectified and sparked his lowest ever round on tour.

"I've worked for years with my brother Mark but he is head coach at Columbus State University near Atlanta and I've not been able to see him enough," he said.

"So I've started working with Claude and asked him to have a look at my swing last week and he immediately spotted that I was overswinging and needed to shorten the backswing.

"It did not quite work last week but I felt I was starting to play well and it gave me more control over the ball."

That new-found control helped Immelman to eight birdies and no bogeys, the highlight of his round coming with a seven-iron from 171 yards faded to within an inch of the hole on the testing par four 15th.

"I think that's the best shot of my career so far," added Immelman.

"I'm a natural drawer of the ball so that shot is not the easiest for me to hit, so to pull it off was something special, especially when you stand over the ball and all you can see is water."

Defending champion Jose Maria Olazbal had opened with two birdies in his first three holes, although a bogey on the second - where he took a double-bogey five on Thursday - left him on four under..

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