Cejka & Montgomerie lead at halfway

Tiger Woods sounded a warning to any pretenders to his Deutsche Bank Open crown on Saturday with a second round five-under-par 67 to move within two strokes of the lead.

At this stage last year, Woods was 10 strokes off the pace and the world No.1 is unconcerned about trailing joint leaders Colin Montgomerie and Alex Cejka.

"I'm not angry or disappointed at where I stand," said the seven times major champion, despite seeing several putts defy gravity and running up a double-bogey on the second by overshooting the green.

"I think you always would want to be ahead but two shots is not a lot to make up, especially with two days to go," he said.

"I hit a lot of beautiful putts which either lipped out or grazed the hole. If they'd dropped I could have shot really low and I wouldn't be behind.

"It wasn't a good start, but I got a real flyer on the second. I tried to take out the flyer by hitting a soft eight-iron to try to stop it flying but it came out hot and flew the green."

Woods at least cushioned some of his disappointment by claiming his seventh birdie of the round on the 18th with a 20-foot putt.

"It balanced itself out a little I guess," he added. "The ball held its line but then kind of hit something and bounced back into the hole."

The American admitted the slow greens on the newly-designed championship course are proving a test for him.

"We don't play on greens of this speed at home," he said.

Cejka, the overnight leader, maintained his position by recovering from a poor start to card a 70, while Montgomerie overcame his first round three-shot deficit on the German with a similarly good finish to shoot a 68.

Montgomerie has a simple theory for overcoming the man he feels is the one to beat.

"You don't go head-to-head with Tiger," he said. "Mentally he's better; he can outdrive you; he's a better putter and chipper.

"The only way you are going to beat Tiger is by shooting a lower score than him.

"He has the whole package. You don't do what he does, or you'll fail."

Cejka also, understandably, has Woods on his mind as he continued his bid to not only clinch his first title on home soil.

The 31-year-old revealed that he had beaten Woods before and would like to do it again.

"To beat Tiger would be a great honour but I have done it before," Cejka said.

"I played with him in the last round of the 1996 British Open at Royal Lytham, beat him and also beat him in the tournament."

The top pair are a stroke ahead of Australian left-hander Richard Green and three Britons, veteran Ian Woosnam, Darren Clarke, excelling despite an injury scare earlier in the week, and outsider Mark Pilkington.

Woods shares seventh place, but the other top American in Germany, John Daly, missed the cut, even though he finished his round eagle-two, birdie, by the two strokes he dropped on the last hole in the first round.

The 2000 European number one Lee Westwood's woes continued as he missed the final two rounds by just a stroke.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page