Monty seeks Copenhagen boost
Colin Montgomerie was today hoping to make life a little easier for himself in the third round of the inaugural Nordic Open.
Montgomerie resumes his first event since being forced to pull out of The Open Championship four shots off the lead held by France’s Gregory Havret.
The 40-year-old Scot fired a second-round 65 in Copenhagen, but was also left cursing a handful of missed chances on the four reachable par fives at Simon’s Golf Club.
The quartet of holes have played the four easiest on the course over the first two days, yielding 500 birdies, 36 eagles and one albatross.
However, Montgomerie has played them in just two under par on Thursday and Friday, and had to birdie the 18th yesterday to play them in level par during his second round.
The former European number one birdied four holes in a row from the third, as well as the eighth and ninth, but three-putted the par-five sixth for bogey and also three-putted the par-five 12th after going just through the green in two.
“The par fives are killing me, I don’t know what’s wrong,” added Montgomerie. “I needed to hole that one on the last to avoid playing them in one over.
“I had four birdies in a row on the front nine and was looking forward to the par five and I bogey the bloody thing.
“I birdied seven of the first 11 holes and then I sort of stopped and couldn’t get a putt in.”
Montgomerie was still confident of claiming his 28th European Tour title, though. He added: “I don’t care who’s in between or how many, I am only four behind and can look forward to the weekend now. This is ideal.”
Havret carded a second-round 63, just one shot outside the course record set by compatriot Raphael Jacquelin on Thursday, for a 13-under-par halfway total.
It gave the 26-year-old a two-shot lead over Swede Patrik Sjoland and English duo David Gilford and David Lynn, with no fewer than seven players a shot further back.
Havret won the Italian Open at the end of his rookie season in 2001, but has enjoyed just one top-10 finish since, and before this week was a collective 175 over par for all the tournaments played since his victory in Sardinia.
“I tried to change some things just after that win because I wanted a better game, more consistent,” said Havret, who is based near EuroDisney, just outside Paris.
“I tried some wrong things, but now I am working with Fabrice Tarnaud, who played the European Tour for five or six years, and things are improving now.
“I want to rediscover the game I used to have in 2001 because I had already secured my card before Italy so it was a good year even without that.”
