Cannes
Open
Royal Mougins
Cannes, France
16th - 19th April 1998Par
71 Prize Money £300,000 Second
Round Report Second
Round Scores
First Round Report
First
Round Scores Christy
O'Conner is the surprise halfway leaderCannes,
17th April 1998 - Christy O'Connor Jnr, who has plans to play on both
the European and American Senior Tours after he reaches 50 on August 19, surprised
even himself when he shot a seven-under-par 64 to lead the Cannes Open after two
rounds. It gave
the amiable Irishman a 36-hole aggregate of 136 - one ahead of Spaniard Santiago
Luna, who shot 68, and two in front of fellow Irishman David Higgins, Sweden's
Pierre Fulke, Englishman Mark Davis and Australian Stephen Allan. O'Connor,
the oldest man in the field, said: "I had no idea I'd shot 64.It's a par
71 here, which always throws me. I was about three or four under halfway round
the course, but I wasn't quite sure, so I thought why bother. "I
was playing with Mark Mouland, a great friend, and we chatted all theway and enjoyed
ourselves." Indeed,
O'Connor probably enjoyed himself more than any time since he hitthat famous two
iron over the water to four feet to beat Fred Couples at the last hole in the
1989 Ryder Cup match at The Belfry. He
began his round with four successive birdies, but bogeyed the short fifth, where
his six iron went into an unplayable lie in a bunker and he had to play out backwards. But
he birdied the eighth and then had his second and last bogey at the ninth, where
he was unfortunate to three-putt after a sudden gust carried his iron shot a further
20 yards to the top plateau of the green. O'Connor
was unruffled and, having turned in a three-under-par 32, he hadfour more birdies
on the back nine, finishing with a flourish with a 15-foot putt at the 18th hole. The
last of his four European Tour victories was in the Dunhill British Masters at
Woburn in 1992, but O'Connor believes he is capable of winning again. "I
have the game to win," he said. "I'm hitting the ball very well and
if it stays fairly warm, I won't be miles away." It
was certainly a great day for the Irish, as Higgins, who has had a disastrous
year to date, shot a second successive 69. He
suffered a horse-riding accident on New Year's Eve, when he was thrown against
a wall and fractured both his right elbow and right wrist. "I
couldn't play for eight weeks after my little accident and now I'm just glad to
be playing again," he said. Today
he had five birdies and only two bogeys on his card, and might well have improved
on his 69. | 
