Johansson on course
to qualify for OpenPer-Ulrik
Johansson turned on the style today as the race for places in Europe's Ryder Cup
team switched to the 36-hole final qualifying competition for the Open. Johansson,
one of several Cup hopefuls not yet in the Carnoustie starting line-up on Thursday,
broke the Montrose course record with an opening eight-under-par 63. The
32-year-old Swede, a member of the winning European sides in 1995 and 1997 but
currently only 22nd in the points standings, was only one stroke off his personal-best
score as he grabbed nine birdies. With
only 12 of the 120 players at each of the four qualifying courses making it through
to the Open proper, Johansson, joint runner-up to Colin Montgomerie at the Benson
and Hedges International in May, was delighted to make such a fast start. Having
finished only 57th at Loch Lomond yesterday Johansson immediately took the two-hour
drive to Montrose to see what was facing him. "I
only walked the course and took some notes. Maybe I should do it that way in future,"
he said. "I
didn't play well at Loch Lomond. My swing is too sensitive for wet courses like
that, but my game suits links golf and it showed." He
opened with a 10-foot birdie putt and, after three-putting the next for what proved
to be his only bogey, birdied four of the next six holes and then had four more
in the final six. Midlander
John Bickerton lies 15th in the Ryder Cup race but his hopes of trying to improve
that at the Open look remote after a three-over-par 74 at Monifieth. Bickerton
was runner-up to Darren Clarke at the English Open six weeks ago but Loch Lomond
saw him miss the cut for the third event running. "I've
had a terrible last month to be honest," he said. "If you have a bad
round you get down mentally. You just have to play through it somehow. "I
can't be disappointed with my season (he is 12th on the European Order of Merit
with nearly £220,000) but obviously I am with today's round." Most
damaging of all was the 430-yard 13th hole, where he drove into a bush and double-bogeyed. He
was playing with Van Phillips, the Maidenhead golfer who beat him in a play-off
for the Portuguese Open in March, and 1987 Open runner-up Rodger Davis. But they
had little to celebrate either, both returning two-over 73s. Mats
Lanner and Michael Jonzon, the two Swedes who were joint runners-up at Loch Lomond
with Sergio Garcia and would have qualified for the Open if they had been second
on their own, have left themselves a lot to do. Lanner,
who missed a seven-foot putt on the last green, slumped to a four-over-par 74
at Panmure while Jonzon had a one-under 70 at Monifieth as South African playing
partner Wayne Westner was shooting a 65. Jonzon's
cause looked hopeless when he turned in 39 but then came four birdies and he said:
"I was very tired and neither me nor my caddie had seen the course, but at
least my back nine has given me a chance." Former
Ryder Cup player Barry Lane may have to withdraw after jarring his wrist during
a four-over-par 77 at Downfield, while another Swede - Christopher Hanell - is
hoping a two-stroke penalty does not cost him an Open debut. Hanell
turned in 32 at Monifieth but on the 367-yard 10th hole the approach of partner
Paul Simpson hit Hanell's ball on the green. "I
placed what I thought was my ball, putted and then holed out, only for Paul to
ask me what ball I was playing. It was his," said Hanell. Instead
of a par four a double-bogey six went on Hanell's card, although he still finished
in a four-under 67.
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