Westwood has chance to end victory drought

Phil Casey
Friday 29 August 2003 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Lee Westwood is relishing a rare lie-in this morning as he chases his first tournament victory in almost three years. Westwood added a second-round 68 to his opening 65 for an 11-under-par halfway total of 133 in the BMW International Open here, just four shots behind the leader Robert Karlsson, of Sweden.

It means the 30-year-old from Worksop will be among the later starters in the third round and could signal an end to the spectacular loss of form which has seen him slump from fourth in the world to 215th.

"It's nice to be in contention again, I haven't been for quite a while," said Westwood, who has not won since his seven victories in 2000 which saw him end Colin Montgomerie's seven-year reign as European No 1. "I'm looking forward to seeing my name on the leaderboard again"

Karlsson moved to the top on the back of two eagles and also chipped in on the seventh for one of his five birdies as he prepared to defend his European Masters title in Switzerland next week.

The Swede, who also won here in 1997, said: "You always have good feelings when you come back to a course where you have done well before." He leads by two shots from the first-round leader Raphael Jacquelin, of France, who added a 69 to his opening 62. Another Swede, Peter Hedblom, was a shot further back, alongside England's Gary Emerson, who carded a second-round 68.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in