WENTWORTH, England, 25 May 2007 — Paul Broadhurst and Justin Rose were readying themselves for a second round onslaught from their rivals in the BMW PGA Championship after the British pair led after yesterday’s first day.
With Marcus Fraser, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Shiv Kapur hovering on their shoulder, the duo can expect intense pressure in today’s second round.
Broadhurst’s low score, fuelled by some sparkling putting, may have been unexpected, but Rose’s matching 66 was even more of a surprise, given that the 26 year-old was returning after an enforced lay-off due to a back injury.
Rose, who is keeping his back problems at bay with a regime of stretching and massage and also has a chiropractor on hand, admitted that he had not known what to expect of his form.
“I didn’t know if I’d be fresh or rusty,” Rose said. “But being fresher proved the best for me. I putted really well and the putter feels really good in my hands.
“I birdied the second and that got me into my stride. Around the turn I felt my concentration struggle, but maybe the fact that I came back in three-under par with no birdies on the par fives was the key to my day.” Kapur registered his 67, one off the pace set by Broadhurst and Rose, as dusk gathered on the West Course, with eight birdies and two bogeys on his card.
Earlier in the day, South Africa’s Els had racked up eight birdies on Wentworth’s revamped West Course, but could only watch as Broadhurst set the early pace.
Els, home in 32, was left to rue the two bogeys and double bogey on the first nine that spoilt his card.
“I had a good start and was two under through the sixth,” Els said. “But I three putted on seven, three-putted on nine. I was very annoyed. But I felt I was hitting the ball well, so we decided to keep doing what we were doing.
“I set myself targets to try and get back into the tournament.” Like Rose, Broadhurst, currently ranked 114th on the European Tour, confessed that he hadn’t known what to expect of his form. “My game hasn’t been that good all year.
“I have been searching for answers, but today I forgot about technique and just tried to score. I felt good on the front nine. I still missed one or two fairways, but my putting was fantastic, the best it has ever been.” Broadhurst, 42, made up for the disappointment of missing the cut at last week’s Irish Open with a spectacular start, scoring birdies on three of the first four holes, and was five under par as he walked off the eighth green.
Although he dropped a shot on the ninth, to reach the turn on 31, he moved clear on the leaderboard on the second nine, with further birdies on the eleventh and seventeenth.
If Els’ form, on a course he knows like the back of his hand, was a volatile mixture of good and bad, Broadhurst’s flying start was almost matched by the consistent Jyoti Randhawa.
Like Broadhurst, the India, reached the turn in 31, four under par. The 35 year old Randhawa, winner of the 2002 Asian Tour Order of Merit, is continuing the vein of form that saw him finish second in last month’s Spanish Open.
“I hit the ball pretty decently today,” Randhawa said after his 68. “But I had two three-putts just off the fringe of the green which maybe should have been two-putts. The greens are a little tough to read for me.
“The first time I played here I had absolutely no idea,” he said. “The second time, I had learned a little bit and today I made a few putts and missed a few also. But I knew which way the slope was going. Before I didn’t, so I am happy.”
