Sweden's
Per-Ulrik Johansson bounced back from injury with his best display of the season
to lead the rain-hit Belgian Open on Friday.
More than half the field of 114 were unable to complete their second rounds after
the start was delayed for 3-1/2 hours to mop up the waterlogged course.
But Johansson managed to finish a blemish-free round of five-under-par 66 to move
one-shot ahead on seven-under 135.
Overnight leader Retief Goosen of South Africa was relegated to second after a
71. He allowed a four-stroke early lead to slip by dropping three shots after
the turn.
Swede Robert Karlsson
(68) held fourth place in the clubhouse on 137 with Briton Dean Robertson (70).
Karlsson, overlooked for
a wild-card by European Ryder Cup captain Mark James, was making a return to Europe
after a spell in the United States. He played alongside James (71) and headed
him by two strokes.
Johansson
missed his chance of a third successive Ryder Cup appearance because of an indifferent
spell and needed a three-week break for treatment to a troublesome right hip.
He felt the absence had not
only helped his injury but contributed to his fine display in the rain.
"This is my best performance of the year,"
he said. "My game's been all right but I've not played well at weekends and then
an injury came along.
"I've
had a lot of pain when flexing my right hip, so I decided to take three weeks
off to try to get it right.
"I
had X-rays but they couldn't find anything. It's through me being too one-sided
in my swing. I'll have to train up my right side more.
"But
I had treatment every day for three weeks and it's much better.
"The three weeks off actually helped me
today because I was eager to play and wanted to do well. If I'd been playing on
for a few weeks it might have been easy to lose the lead with all the rain and
wet conditions."
Encouraged
by close friend Jesper Parnevik's success on the american circuit, Johansson will
attempt to earn a U.S. Tour card in the final qualifying tournament in two weeks.
"I've never tried before
and it will be my dream situation to be able to play the start of the year in
America and then have two or three months in Europe from May time," added Johansson.
"After playing nine years
in Europe I feel like a change but it won't be full-time if I make it. I'm not
giving up on Europe."
Johansson
had to master balls spinning back some distances on the soaked greens, but it
proved too much for Goosen.
"My
score doesn't reflect the way I played and I'm not disappointed," said Goosen.
"Because of the rain the
flags were placed in high points on the green and it was difficult to get the
ball close. Sometimes it spun back as much as 30 feet."
Zimbabwe's Tony Johnstone shared second place with Goosen with 12 holes remaining
when the second round resumes early on Saturday.
