Paul Casey’s love affair with The De Vere Belfry continued during the second round of The Quinn Direct British Masters as the Englishman pulled three strokes clear of the field heading into the weekend.
Casey, winner of the last European Tour event at the Midlands venue in 2003, fired a six under par 66 to move to 11 under par 133 with Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke his nearest challenger.
Five players, including US Open Champion Michael Campbell of New Zealand and Ryder Cup player Ian Poulter of England, are a shot further back on seven under par while fellow Englishman Graeme Storm equalled the course record with a 64 to join the group a further shot adrift.
Casey was once again in sublime form in keeping a bogey off his card for a second successive day. It was his 14th successive round under par.
The De Vere Belfry has a particular resonance for Casey as it was here in 2001 that he made his professional debut, finishing a highly credible tied 12th , while two years later he won the third of his five European Tour titles to date with victory in The Benson and Hedges International Open.
Casey now has his sights on a second title of the season following his win in the Volvo China Open at the end of last year.
“There’s a lot of golf left,” said the Ryder Cup player. “I’ve been fortunate to keep it out of trouble. I’m obviously going to aim to do that over the weekend but there are other guys behind me who I am sure have had their ups and downs and they could get a run going over the weekend. It is far from over.”
For Clarke, a second round of 70 for an eight under par 136 ended his FA Cup Final dream. He had planned to fly by helicopter with Paul McGinley and Thomas Bjorn and watch his beloved Liverpool take on West Ham from The Royal Box at the Millennium Stadium but going out in the final group put and end to that plan, even with a scheduled finish at 2.30pm.
“It’s in tatters,” admitted Clarke. “I had got two tickets for The Royal Box and I won’t be able to use them. I’m very disappointed.”
As for the round, four birdies and two bogeys kept him well in the hunt for his 11th European Tour title.
“It’s an awful lot closer to the lead than I thought I was going to be,” he said. “I’ve hit quite a few good shots and if I can do that and roll a few putts in again tomorrow, hopefully I’ll close the gap.”
Campbell shared third place on 137 with Swede Johan Edfors, Scot Stephen Gallacher and Poulter and Australian Peter O'Malley.
Despite being rusty after taking a month off, Campbell said he could figure in the title chase at the weekend.
"You would think, logically, my peers would think of me being a threat at the weekend, which is kind of nice for the ego," said the New Zealander after a round of 70.
"It's nice, really empowers me, too, to have that feeling of looking at me as a major frontrunner."
Poulter relished the support from the home crowd as he shot a three under par 69 to lie just four back going into the last two rounds.
The round of the day, however, belonged to Storm as the former Amateur Champion produced his best golf for six or seven years to equal the course record of 64.
“Nothing went wrong,” he said. “I didn’t expect it to be honest as yesterday I holed nothing. Nut I did some work with my coach and it paid off. The swing just clicked.”
Northern Irishman, Graeme McDowell, moved into contention with a hole-in-one on the seventh, his 16th, when he holed from 175 yards with a seven iron on his way to 68 for 138, six under par. His prize for the ace was to have his three cars insured by the sponsors Quinn Direct for a year.
