Ian Woosnam carded a fine four under par 69 to move to within one shot of leader Philip Golding after the second round of the Dutch Senior Open, at The International.
The former Ryder Cup captain was well off the pace, which has been set by Golding all tournament, after making quadruple bogey at the second, however he responded superbly with eight birdies to go into the final round tied with George Ryall in second place on six under par 140.
Golding arrived in Amsterdam fresh from victory in last week’s French Riviera Masters, and his quest for successive wire-to-wire European Senior Tour victories is still on, after a two under par 71 gave the Englishman a seven under par total.
“It was a struggle out there today,” said Golding, who is now 37 under par for his last eight rounds. “The conditions were tough and I had trouble all the way round with the lense in my right eye.
“I suppose you would describe it as a battling round of golf. I never felt comfortable but I hung in there and managed get it round in under par.
“It will be fun going up against Woosie (Ian Woosnam). He had a good last round in France and he’s clearly playing very well here. He’s a class player so it’s going to be very tough.”
Woosnam, who is searching for his first European Senior Tour title since the 2011 Berenberg Bank Masters, was left to ponder how low he might have gone if he had not run into trouble at the second.
“I often get nine birdies when I’m practising at home but it’s been a while since I have done it in competition.
“I just hit one bad shot on the second and that cost me a very low score. I was trying to hit my drive down the left because the hole was cut on the right of the green. I just overdid it a fraction and never saw the ball again.
“My second drive was perfect but my approach came up short and then I duffed a couple of pitches which only made things worse.
“I put my head down after that and told myself just to keep trying. In the end I’m a lot closer to the lead than I thought I was going to be a couple of holes into the round.”
Ryall was the only player in the field to get round without dropping a shot on a day marred by intermittent heavy showers.
He started the round with ten straight pars, but then made three birdies on the way in to post a solid 70.
“It was a strange round and certainly not a steady as it looks on paper,” Ryall admitted. “The first nine was scrappy but my putter bailed me out.
“The fact I got round without a bogey was entirely due to my putting. I’m not renowned as the best putter out here, but I can’t complain today.”
Further down the leaderboard Spain’s Pedro Linhart carded a two under par 71 to share fourth place with Argentina’s Jorge Berendt on three under par 143, while former Ryder Cup player Ronan Rafferty fired a low round of the day 68, to claim a share of sixth place alongside Carl Mason, Louis Carbonetti and Santiago Luna at two under par.
