McGrane finds his grain

Irishman revels in home-like cold conditions, Jyoti slips to 15th, while Jeev bows out

NEW DELHI: Oblivious to the performances of top stars, Irishman Damien McGrane added a three-under par 69 to his overnight 67 to emerge as the leader at the half-way stage of the $2.4 million Emaar MGF Indian Masters at the Delhi Golf Club on Friday.

In what was a complete turnaround of events, overnight leader Jyoti Randhawa shot a disastrous 77 to slide to tied-15th position while world No.4 Ernie Els barely made it to the money making rounds.

McGrane’s two-day total was 8-under 136, two shots ahead of the trio of South African Hendrik Buhrmann, Graeme McDowell from North Ireland and Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin with an identical round of 69. Mikael Lundberg of Sweden enjoyed a sole fifth position at 139 while Jose Manuel Lara, Thomas Bjorn, Maarten Lafeber, Ben Barham, Arjun Atwal and Digvijay Singh were tied for the sixth position at 140.

As many as 70 professionals made it to the weekend rounds after the cut was applied at 3-over. The list included 14 Indians out of a total of 31 players. Amongst the well known players to miss the bus were India’s top draw Jeev Milkha Singh who shot a successive 77. Joining him were former Indian Open winners, Thaworn Wiratchant and Mardan Mamat and former India No. 1 Mukesh Kumar, among others.

With the conditions being cold, the ball was losing a bit of distance. McGrane who began from the 10th lost a stroke on the par-4 11th, despite a good second shot which landed near the flag yet rolled away from the green.

A poor chip was followed by two putts. However laying up on the par-5 14th, he chipped to three feet for a neat birdie and parred his way to a level par on the front nine. “It felt as if I was back home where the cold Irish mornings are very famous,” said McGrane who went to sink a 20-footer for a birdie on the third. However on the fourth, his ball lay on the lip of the greenside bunker from where he chipped to 15 feet and made two putts for a bogey.

However McGrane, whose best finish on the European Tour is a tied-third position, made a good recovery with successive birdies on the fifth and sixth, courtesy some superb iron-play where he hit it close. But the birdie on his finishing hole was his best amongst the five. Choosing to take the risk, he blasted a 3-wood into the tough ninth green, where the pin was cut dangerously to the front edge on the left, to about 15 feet which he drained for a superb birdie.

“I seem to be birdiing the more difficult holes out there than the easier holes for some reason but you take the birdies any time you get them out there,” said the leader. Talking about his strategy for the next two rounds, the 37-year-old said that it would be the same formula. “I would like to try to do the same thing day-in and day-out. I found a formula around the course that seems to be giving me good numbers.”
 
With players bunched together, the others might well crack that formula at the earliest.

Top Scores (after 36 holes)
136 Damien McGrane, Ire (67, 69)
138 Hendrik Buhrmann, SA (69, 69); Raphaël Jacquelin, FRA (69, 69); Graeme McDowell, Ire (69, 69),
139 Mikael Lundberg, Swe (71, 68),
140 Arjun Atwal, Ind (70, 70); Benn Barham, Eng (69, 71); Thomas Björn, Den (68, 72); Maarten Lafeber, Ned (69, 71); José Manuel Lara, Esp (68, 72); Digvijay Singh, Ind (70, 70)
141 SSP Chowrasia, Ind (70, 71); Henrik Nystrom, Swe (70, 71); Darren Clarke, Ire (72, 69)
142 Ross Bain, Sco (71, 71); Brendan Jones, Aus (74, 68); Mark O’Meara, Aus (69, 73); Jyoti Randhawa, Ind (65, 77); Brenden Jones, Aus (74, 68); Marcus Fraser, Aus (73, 69)