Colin Montgomerie will attempt to capture a Grand Slam of sports – the German version – when he goes into the third round of the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe at St.Leon-Rot in the final group with joint leader Alex Cejka.
Montgomerie, who fired a second round 68 for a ten under par total of 134, moved alongside first round leader Cejka then revealed his ambition to a German four-timer. He explained: “I’ve won the Linde German Masters, the German Open and the BMW International Open in Munich.
“Although I won the TPC before it was played in Portugal so I would like to add this one to my list and win all four titles in Germany and go one better than Bernhard Langer, who has won all but the BMW International Open.”
The Scot insisted that he is now comfortable with the ‘belly putter’ which he has used for most of this season. That adjustment resulted in Montgomerie making a ten foot eagle putt on the 17th following a superb five wood approach and also five other birdies in his four under par round.
He has now led, or shared the lead in his last three tournaments and said: “It was disappointing to lose the Benson and Hedges International Open. I only needed to shoot five under at the weekend to win and I shot two under and finished third. This week I will have to do better. The standard is good and I am sure Tiger will be right there for the weekend.
“But it’s exciting when I am playing the way I am doing now. I haven’t been in contention for a while but it was starting to come back at the Masters and I’ve now been in contention for the past three weeks.”
Cejka, without a victory since he picked off three titles in 1995, added a 70 to his opening 64 and professed to be pleasantly surprised to be up at the head of affairs over a course he thought was unsuited to his game.
“I came here for my practice round and thought it was very tight and it didn’t look like being my kind of course. But I’ve played solidly and I am very pleased. All the names are bunching up. Two rounds to go and I’m happy to be in this position.”
Woods, the defending champion, shot a 67 for move through the field on 136, eight under par, and that ominous sight holds no fears for Cejka. He explained: “The first time I played with him in a tournament – the Open Championship in 1996 – I outscored him in the last round and finished ahead of him in the tournament, so why not here as well?”
Between Woods and the joint leaders are four players – Darren Clarke, Richard Green, Mark Pilkington and Ian Woosnam. Clarke’s position on 135 after a round of 68 is little short of miraculous. He tore a muscle in his right thigh while fishing on the River Test in Hampshire on Monday and had The European Tour physio team shaking their collective heads on Wednesday.
“They’ve done a fantastic job” he said. “There is no way I would have been able to play on Wednesday. In the circumstances I am delighted to be on nine under. The physios advised me yesterday that if I felt any twinge at all then I should contemplate pulling out. Fortunately there is no pain when I swing. I just find it hard to crouch and line up putts.”
Green, winner of the Dubai Desert Classic in 1996 but without a European Tour victory since, birdied three holes in a row from the third to add a 67 to his opening 68 while Welshman Pilkington ground out a bogey free 64 to move into exalted company at the top of a high quality leaderboard.
With Woods out on the course, Pilkington admitted he was excited about the possibility of playing with the World Number One in the next round. It didn’t quite work out that day but he said: “It would definitely be a great experience. You want to play with the best in the world eventually – and the sooner the better.”
Woods said he was “neither angry nor disappointed” to be in a position two shots behind the leaders, which is hardly surprisingly considering he was ten behind Michael Campbell at the same juncture last year.
“Today could have been pretty low” he said. “I didn’t get off to a great start but I got it back and hit a lot of great shots and made some putts. I just didn’t make enough on the back nine. If they had fallen in, I would have been really low today.”
