After the exertions of his US Open Championship victory almost two weeks ago, Retief Goosen came to The K Club aiming to “take it easy and have a stroll around.” While most competitors in the Smurfit European Open battled the elements, the South African managed to do just that and was relaxation personified and he strode purposefully into an impressive halfway lead.
The 35 year old, who calmly held off the challenge of Phil Mickelson and a partizan New York crowd at Shinnecock Hills to claim his second Major title, kept his head again while many around him were losing theirs, a fantastic and flawless 66 seeing him move into pole position for his 11th European Tour title.
Goosen stood proudly at the head of affairs on nine under par 135, two shots clear of Maarten Lafeber of The Netherlands, one of the three joint first round leaders, who maintained his lofty position with a 70 for 137 while England’s Lee Westwood took third on six under par 138 after his 69.
Starting on the back nine of the new Smurfit Course which was hosting the tournament for the first time, Goosen made light work of the strong winds, notching four birdies in his first six holes, including three in a row from the 13th.
Turning for home, his assault on the front nine of the course was not as severe as his outward half, but he still managed to prise another two birdies from the arguably harder half of the course, pitching to eight feet and holing at the 603 yard third, while a nine iron to 12 feet did the trick at the 436 yard sixth.
“Obviously when you win your first Major a lot is expected of you, but when you win your second, people expect even more,” he said. “I am expecting myself to play well, obviously, I am here to try and play well and see if I can win the tournament.
“I have a two shot lead at the moment going into the weekend and it is always nice to be ahead. But it is going to be a long weekend. I believe the weather forecast is pretty much the same so we will just have to wait and see what happens.”
Nearest challenger to Goosen, Dutchman Lafeber continued the good form which started on Monday when he came through the qualifying for the 133rd Open Golf Championship at Sunningdale and which continued in Thursday’s first round when he carded a 67.
Although the second round 70 did not make such impressive reading on the scorecard, the winner of his native Dutch Open on The European Tour International Schedule last October was pleased with his day’s work nonetheless.
“I actually played better than the score suggests,” he said. “I didn’t make any mistakes for the first 12 holes and hit 17 greens in regulation. Overall I said that par was pretty good so you can imagine I am very happy.”
The 29 year old will partner Goosen in the final grouping in Saturday’s third round and paid tribute to the man who will face him across the fairway in the penultimate day’s play.
“I am playing good golf but that is why he is the US Open Champion,” said Lafeber. “The pins were quite tricky today so to shoot 66 is unbelievable golf, all credit to him. I’m looking forward to playing with him and I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from that. But I am in a good position and if my course management continues like this, then I am looking forward to the next two days.”
In third spot, Westwood found some of his best form of the year, compiling his second consecutive 69 for a six under par total of 138. The Englishman only dropped one shot all day, at the 439 yard fifth, but more than compensated for that with birdies at the first, tenth, 12th and 14th.
“It is probably the best I’ve played all year and certainly the best back to back rounds I’ve played all year considering the conditions,” said Westwood. “I played pretty well at Bay Hill and Dubai, but yes, here is probably the best.
“I played solidly today right from the first tee shot to the last putt. All day I stayed calm and didn’t get upset with the conditions and managed to grind it out, hit a lot of good shots and made a lot of chances.”
One shot behind Westwood, Australian Nick O’Hern continued to tap into a rich vein of form when his level par 72 saw him take fourth place on five under par 139. The left-hander has finished fourth, third and second in his last three events on The European Tour International Schedule and admitted he would love the numerical sequence to continue to its natural conclusion this week.
“That would be nice if I could follow the numbers, wouldn’t it?” he said. “We’ll see what happens but there are 36 holes to go, and that is a long way.”
O’Hern had two birdies and two bogeys in his second round but elsewhere coped well on the odd occasion that his normally reliable tee to green game strayed a little off course, putting his excellent form down to a combination of issues.
“I had some really good preparation before I came over here to Europe and my wife and family are here with me so I am feeling pretty settled,” he said. “My golf swing is pretty solid too so even if I am having an off day, my chipping and putting means I can still shoot par like I did today.”
One shot behind O’Hern, South African James Kingston took fifth on 140 while five players shared sixth place on 141 including the leading Irish contender Paul McGinley and one of his Ryder Cup team-mates from The De Vere Belfry in 2002, Sweden’s Niclas Fasth.
