STRAFFAN, Ireland, 2 July 2005 — Dane Thomas Bjorn used his new-found serenity to overcome an awful start and surge through the field for the early second round lead at the European Open yesterday.

The 34-year-old has developed a new, calmer approach to the game in the year since he walked off the Smurfit course in disarray after only six holes of the first round in 2004. Playing the Palmer course, the venue for the 2006 Ryder Cup, agreed with him far more as he shot a three-under-par 69 to set a five-under-par 139 target.

Bjorn’s compatriot Anders Hansen moved up to second place, a stroke behind, along with Australian Brett Rumford and Britons Jonathan Lomas and Graeme Storm.

Bjorn could easily have thought about walking in again at the start of his round as rustiness after a week off showed itself, but he heeded the words of advice from his mental coach Jos Vanstiphout.

“The first five holes today could have been anything,” he said after carding three bogeys and a birdie in his six holes having started on the 10th. “It was awful.

“But I spoke to Jos before I went out and he said: “Go and play with what you’ve got and keep your head on your shoulders, try to battle it out.

“I kept level-headed all the way round and I just got into a pretty good flow on the back nine, but I don’t think I’ve played like that and got into the 60s in a long, long time.”

Colin Montgomerie will have a long wait to see if his four-over-par mark for two rounds is good enough to make the cut but one of the tournament favourites, Padraig Harrington, will not be in the weekend action.

A 74 was an improvement in score but Harrington, who won the Barclays Classic on Sunday on the PGA Tour, was unable to recover from his opening 79 to total nine-over-par.

Curtis, Furyk, Fischer in Lead at Western; Woods Lagging Behind€

In Lemont, Illinois, Ben Curtis, Jim Furyk and Todd Fischer all shot bogey-free, 7-under 64s Thursday, getting within a stroke of the Cog Hill course record and sharing the lead after the first round of the Western Open.

The trio were two strokes ahead of Harrison Frazar, former Western champ Robert Allenby and Chad Campbell.

“I made it very simple on myself, didn’t get in any trouble off the tee with the thick rough,” said Curtis, the 2003 British Open champ. “I just played very solid. ... Everything clicked together today.”

Fan favorite John Daly, playing his first Western since 1996, finished at 2-under 69 after almost holing his second shot on the par-4 18th.

Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh didn’t look like the top two players in the world. Woods, who couldn’t get the ball close to the pin all afternoon, shot a 2-over 73 and has some work to do to make the cut. Singh shot 72.

Curtis was a rookie just trying to hold onto his PGA Tour card when he won the British two years ago, beating Singh and Thomas Bjorn by a stroke.

Last year he had one top-10 finish and wound 141st on the US PGA Tour’s money list. This year, he’s made the cut only twice in 14 tries, and his best finish was a tie for 56th at Wachovia.

“I am in a slump,” he said. “This year has just been up and down. It just seems like one week I’d hit the ball poorly and then the next week I’d putt poorly. So it’s been everything, to be honest.”