Richard Green and Greg Owen, two men chasing victory for different reasons, held sway jointly at the Marriott Forest of Arden, matching eight under par totals of 136 giving the duo a share of the lead at the halfway stage of The Daily Telegraph Damovo British Masters.
Left hander Green carded an adventurous 66 for his share of pole position while Owen posted his second consecutive 68 to move one shot clear of his fellow Englishman David Lynn and Germany’s Marcel Siem, who both carded 71s for seven under par 137.
Since gaining his card for The European Tour at the end of the 1997 season, Owen has come close to his maiden victory on numerous occasions but the record books show that four third places is the closest the 31 year old has come.
He had another excellent chance in the Algarve Open de Portugal in April where he led by three shots at the halfway point only to slip back over the weekend to eventually finish fifth, an outcome that Owen admitted left him “gutted.”
“You can tell by the two events after that (he missed the cut in both) the way I felt, I’ve never felt like that before,” he said. “I actually didn’t want to play and I didn’t want to go through that again. I just wanted to go home and spend time with my little girl.
“But the Sunday before the Deutsche Bank – SAP Open TPC of Europe I had a serious sit down and chat with my coach Dave Ridley from Coxmoor. I’ve known him for 15 years and we had a real heart to heart and he said, ‘Come on, you’ve got a job to do.’
“I went out to Germany and played lovely there and finished eighth. I’m now in a position where my card is secure for another year and now it time to start enjoying it again and trying to win an event. You get rid of the first obstacle and the next couple are easier to clear.”
Certainly if he can repeat his flawless form of the second round, Owen will be a hard man to knock off the top of the tree, his only departures from par around the 7213 yard course being birdies at the seventh, tenth, 16th and 17th, the latter courtesy of an exquisite chip shot which finished stone dead.
Alongside Owen, Richard Green enjoyed a rollercoaster second round, his fluctuating fortunes encapsulated in two consecutive holes, following a bogey six at the relatively straightforward par five third, with an eagle two at the 381 yard fourth, holing his wedge approach from 51 yards.
Elsewhere, birdies at the seventh and eighth, along with a storming finish which featured birdies at the 16th, 17th and 18th holes, saw Green post a share of the round of the day, his 66 only matched by fifth placed Darren Fichardt.
“I’ve played quite well tee to green but I haven’t putted very well and that’s the difference every week,” he said. “Last week the winner in Wales (Ian Poulter) had 108 putts and I had 124. That’s the difference, but with the greens being in fantastic condition here, maybe this will be the week for me.”
Unlike Owen, Green has savoured the magic of victory, when he beat Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam in a play-off to win the 1997 Dubai Desert Classic, but has been unable since then to come up with another triumph.
“As a young fellow you are desperate to win so much that you will do almost anything to do it and you sometimes end up stumbling into it and that’s what probably what I did when I won in Dubai,” he said.
“But I want to win again so much now, probably more than the first time, and that’s putting an extra bit of pressure on me. But I always knew it would be difficult because the competition has got better and better over the years.
“Knowing who I beat in Dubai gives me a bit of a lift to know that I can beat anybody but I’ve found over the last couple of years that I’ve put myself into contention over the first two rounds and haven’t played well over the weekend. It’s a battle with yourself.”
Aside from Owen, the closest challengers aiming to ensure Green does not achieve his second European Tour victory, are David Lynn and Marcel Siem, who have carded identical rounds of 66 and 71.
For Lynn, the return to form was a welcome one for the 29 year old Englishman who was 20th on the Volvo Order of Merit after the Algarve Open de Portugal thanks to an excellent start to the season, but who, uncharacteristically, missed the last three cuts.
“It was disappointing after the start to my season but I just wasn’t holing my fair share of putts in the last three weeks and just wasn’t scoring,” said Lynn, who had five birdies and four bogeys in his 71.
“But the good thing for me was that I have ground out a score today. My main concern this week was getting into the weekend and once I accomplished that, I wanted to get into contention again. I’ve managed to do that and this is where I really like to be.”
Alongside Lynn, 22 year old Siem gave himself a great opportunity to better his current best finish on The European Tour, namely fifth place in last year’s Diageo Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles.
During his first round 66, the German birdied all four of the course’s par fives after having been given a talking to by his father Heinz for not taking advantage of his length from the tee.
Although he was not quite as impressive in the second round, the 524 yard seventh hole did provide the highlight of his 71, an eagle three coming courtesy of a curling 30 foot putt after his seven iron second shot had found the centre of the green.
“My focus is just to have a good weekend. I was eleventh in Madeira and eighth in Portugal and had a good chance in the Benson and Hedges International Open but it seems my problems are on the weekend. But it’s all part of the learning curve.”
Last year, when the tournament was staged at Woburn Golf & Country Club, Ian Poulter and Justin Rose fought out an epic duel before Rose claimed victory by a solitary shot.
It was a slightly different story for the two young English lions in this year’s tournament as they battled to make the cut, the duo eventually achieving it right on the mark of level par 144.
However that proved too great an obstacle for seven time Volvo Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie, who followed up his missed cut in The Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open with another one in Warwickshire, his second round 75 for a four over par total of 148 being four strokes too many.
The 39 year old Scot will fly out to Chicago on Monday for the 103rd US Open Championship and remained upbeat about his chances.
“In the past I’ve missed a couple of cuts and then I won the BMW after I missed in Switzerland and somewhere else so yes of course there are quick turn arounds,” he said. “Whether I have enough time to turn it around before next week, I’m not sure. But I’ll turn it around soon, it is just a matter of when.”
