Bernhard Langer, who has tasted sweet victory on home soil ten times in the past, smacked his lips at the prospect of an 11th victory in Germany by shooting an eight under par 64 at Gut Lärchenhof, Cologne, to take a two stroke lead into the third round of the Linde German Masters.
The 44 year old Ryder Cup player delivered a feast of birdies for the enthusiastic galleries as he fired his lowest score at Gut Lärchenhof for a two round total of 131, 13 under par, in a tournament he has already won three times.
Langer leads by two from a trio of players in Australian Stephen Leaney, Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson and first round leader, Greg Owen, of England. Leaney and Jacobson fed off each other, both shooting 66s for 133 while Owen added a 68 to his opening 65.
It was an irresistible display by Langer, who has the dual role this week of performer and co-promoter with his brother, Erwin. Despite the off-course distractions, the resilient German focused on his golf game and picked up eight birdies, five of them coming between the first and sixth holes.
Despite a stiff back, which necessitated regular stretching exercises on the course, Langer made good progress through the field after starting the day two shots behind. He said: "I hit a lot of greens and gave myself chances for birdies and the greens were very good. It was just a matter of reading them correctly and getting the right pace. I believe it's my lowest round here.
"My back was hurting a little bit, my lower right back. I was stretching several times on the course to make sure my posture was good but it didn't affect me to the point where I couldn't swing and couldn't play.
"The key is to hit the fairway because the rough is wet and long enough to hurt you when you hit in there."
Owen, himself a bad back sufferer, only made one error when he bogeyed the fourth, his 13th hole, and shot a 68 which should have seen him consolidate the lead he had shared with Swede Henrik Nystrom overnight.
Owen commented: “I’ve been overtaken but that’s not because I haven’t played well. I’ve played nicely but Bernhard obviously played super golf. At least I’m up there and will have to keep plodding away and making some birdies and we’ll see how it goes.”
Leaney, three times a winner on The European Tour, has returned to Europe after a short visit to Australia with a new wife, Tracey, and an old bullseye putter which is back in his bag after a four month spell in the ‘sin bin’.
“It’s been banished” he explained with a laugh. “In France I didn’t average below 32 putts all four days but the putter has reappeared again. It’s nice to be able to hole a 20 footer. It’s the same putter I used to win in Morocco in 1998 but not the bullseye I had when winning twice in Holland.”
Two Englishmen, David Lynn and Warren Bennett, finished tied for fifth on 134, ten under par, after rounds of 66.
A total of 81 players made the halfway cut on 142, two under par, and better. Right on the mark was 2000 Volvo Order of Merit winner, Lee Westwood.
