Irish Majors Suffer BMW Trouble

All four Irish Major winners are in trouble on day two of the BMW PGA Championship on the West Course at Wentworth, with Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke set to miss the cut by a significant tally. 

They will be joined by US Open champion Rory McIlroy who has made the turn in 37 shots after a costly double at the par four 8th hole. 

On four over par on the inward journey he now needs a birdie blitz to get inside level par and ensure a stays for the weekend – and also hang on to his world number one ranking. 

Also struggling is fellow Horizon Sports stable mate, Graeme McDowell,but  who is still within stroke or two of making the cut, after making the turn on +1. But with little chance of winning the tournament one imagines, and build on his good work at the Volvo Match play at Finca Cortesin,  with the club house lead posted at 12 under.

Shane Lowry also on plus one, looks to have missed the cut as well as he finished on one under overall .

Open Champion Darren Clarke missed another chance to kick start his season after coming home in 77 strokes on Friday. It now looks like the next scheduled event is the place where  momentum can happen for him, with the Irish Open looming in a few weeks at his home course at Royal Portrush. 

Not to mention the Open at Royal Lytham and St Anne’s, where he will be due to hand back the claret jug which he won in such style last July. So far that achievement has not added to his titles and seems to be a burden that has affected his game. 

Similarly, Padraig Harrington is battling out the last few holes having reached plus eight after a disastrous opening day. The talk of Wentworth being the place to build on the good work he has been doing over pre-season has proved premature. So it will be an early flight back to Weston Aerodrome on Friday night for three time major winner. 

Across the cut line the news is better and the names are perhaps less renown. 

One of the two Irish PGA professionals is looking assured, as former European Challenge Tour player, David Higgins, is tipping around Wentworth safely on 3 under as he cleared the seventeenth green. A vast improvement on his last two visits where he missed the cut through one or two costly wayward shots. 

Barrie Trainor is level par having just teed off and dropped a shot after a bogey on the first. 

Paul McGinley is also level par having signed for a second day 71 and should be safely through to Saturday's pairings. 

Damien McGrane is one under and completed his Friday round in level par 72. 

Michael Hoey is still on course and by the seventh had claimed two birdies to help make up for the two doubles he carded on the back none in round 1. Now, at one under the Hassan II Trophy winner is moving in the right direction. 

Gareth Maybin has moved in the same direction with a front nine completed in 33 strokes  contributing to his success. An eagle then on the twelfth saved the damage from a bogey on the previous hole, and after the sixteenth is 2 under – but with a colourful card. 

But it is at the top of the leader board where Peter Lawrie drives the Irish challenge ending the first two days five shots off the leader - in a share of 4th place with only two blemishes over the two rounds on the final stretch on Friday - for a 71. He has been leapfrogged by a couple of players, including Luke Donald who signed for a 68 to share third place with David Dryable on -8. 

All chasing leader James Morrison on 12 under after a round of 64. 

Windy Senior PGA Gives Walton Cut Worry

Philip Walton was one of a number of casualties in the very strong winds at Harbor Shores on Michigan, undoing a very positive start on Thursday afternoon, at the Senior PGA Championship - leaving him now facing the cut on Friday.

Despite being two over par at the turn -in his maiden Champions Tour event - after a double  bogey on the 7th, the Dub liner then birdied the first to steady the ship.

However Walton then dropped  six on the windy route to the clubhouse - finally signing for a round of 78. 

In contrast, after playing only one event on the European Senior Tour this year, Roger Chapman shot 3-under 68 to take the first-round lead.

"We have only played one event in Europe this year, so this is probably my fourth real competitive round this year," the Englishman said. "It's a long way to come, a long wait. But I'm very pleased with the way things are going."

John Cook was a stroke back, and Steve Pate, J.L. Lewis, Jeff Sluman, Jay Haas, David Frost and Jim Carter shot 70.

Chapman tied for 27th last year in the Senior PGA in Kentucky, his best showing in his first three starts in the major championship.

Harbor Shores opened two years ago for its first full season, and the Jack Nicklaus-designed layout gave players quite a challenge on a windy day along the shore of Lake Michigan. Chapman hit all 13 fairways and made five birdies and two bogeys. He birdied Nos. 7, 8 and 9 on the part of the course closest to the lake.

"My expectations were, just go in and come into the tournament and play as well as I can," Chapman said. "And I must say I'm very happy with what's happened today, so just keep it going."

Chapman's performance came somewhat out of nowhere after his pedestrian showing in Europe.

"We had one event, our first event, which was second week in May. We lost a couple sponsors in China and Brunei, which we normally play a couple in March," he explained. "We never really start very early anyway, but this is probably normally about the third or fourth event of the year."

Defending champion Tom Watson is sitting out the tournament because of a wrist problem. Four-time champion Hale Irwin shot 71 -- a solid score that puts him in position to contend again if he can keep it up. Irwin, who turns 67 on June 3, last won the event in 2004, but finished fourth last year.

Fred Couples, who won at Fallen Oak in Mississippi on the Champions Tour in March, made a double bogey on the par-5 15th and shot 76.

"Anything under par is a good score," he said. "It's just another round of golf. I'm 52 years old. If I'm worried what I shot every single round, then that's a problem."

Cook has three top-five finishes on the Champions Tour this year. He missed four fairways, but had only one bogey.

"Today the wind decided it was going to switch completely on us right from the first tee ball. We were trying to figure out what to do there," Cook said. "I know the wind's supposed to be different almost every single day. I know it's supposed to be hot on Sunday. So it just, it just adds those variables."

Bernhard Langer and Mark Calcavecchia shot 73. Fred Funk, coming off a victory May 6 at The Woodlands in the last Champions Tour's event, had a 74. Tom Lehman shot 76.

Lawrie Maintains Friday Momentum

Peter Lawrie continued to set the pace in the early stages of the BMW PGA Championship second round at Wentworth on Friday, and share lead with David Drysdale of Scotland - only to see James Morrison outpace them after he carded five birdies by the 12th hole.

The pair started with six under par rounds of 66 and were back on the course before 8am on another glorious morning.

Drysdale, 291st in the world, bogeyed the first, but came back with birdies at the fourth and fifth.

Lawrie, ranked 212th, also picked up a birdie at the long fourth and at seven under they were a stroke ahead of Welshman Jamie Donaldson, Spaniard Alvaro Quiros and Italian Francesco Molinari.

Donaldson, still seeking his first European Tour victory after more than 250 starts, recovered from an opening bogey with an eagle at the 552-yard fourth, while recent Spanish Open winner Molinari birdied the first two holes and Quiros showed he was not all about big-hitting by holing from 18 feet on the short second.

He was playing with World Number Two Luke Donald and World Number Ten Justin Rose. Donald hit his opening drive into a bunker and bogeyed, but then holed from 14 feet on the next to return to four under, while Rose remained five under.

World Number One Rory McIlroy and third-ranked Lee Westwood were among the later starters. They stood two under and two over respectively.

Drysdale's third birdie in four holes came on the 391 yard eighth, but it was only moments before Lawrie joined him again with a three at the 418 yard sixth.

Rose, who feared he might have to pull out before the start on Thursday because of dizziness, matched the Dubliner's birdies on the fourth and sixth and at seven under was up into a tie for third with Quiros and Molinari, but Donaldson, joint leader after a two at the short fifth, bogeyed two of the next three.

Donald continued to lurk menacingly. He picked up more shots on the fourth and fifth to stand six under and joint sixth, while 48 year old three-time winner Colin Montgomerie was not doing badly either. He was another to birdie the fourth and that took him to four under.

McIlroy May Yet Face Tour Sanction

Rory McIlroy struggled on day one of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, carding a two-over 74 and could also face punishment after throwing a club.

Scot Drysdale and Ireland's Lawrie shot rounds of 66 to lead by one from a group including England's Justin Rose and Wales' Jamie Donaldson.

Second-ranked Luke Donald shot 68 as world number three Lee Westwood had 70.

McIlroy, who missed the cut at the Players Championship two weeks ago, mixed an eagle and three birdies with a double bogey and five bogeys.

Bjorn clashes with authority

The US Open champion, who began last year's event with a 76 but recovered to finish in a tie for 24th, put his approach at the 12th out of bounds and after hitting a wayward shot with his provisional ball, angrily hurled his club to the ground.

"It was a bit of deja vu from last year," he said. "I was two-under through seven holes and feeling like I was playing well. But then I made four bogeys in five holes so it's pretty disappointing. I feel like I am playing well, I just need to go out there and shoot the score."

Tournament director David Garland issued a statement regarding the McIlroy club throwing incident and said: "I have not yet had the chance to view the incident, but I will be requesting a tape.

"If any breach of the Tour's guidelines on course etiquette is found, then appropriate action will be taken in due course."

Birdie Start for Waltz at US Senior PGA

Philip Walton opened his inaugural appearance at the 73rd US Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid with a birdie on the hist first hole - the 538 yard par 5 10th - at Harbor Shores in Michigan.

With wind usually pushing from left to right, the par-5 normally forces the drive along the left side of the fairway to avoid bunkers and hazards in the landing area, with the layup shot to the left side of the fairway on order to give the best shot at the treacherous four-tiered green. 

Known as one of Nicklaus’ most famous greens and at nearly 10,500 sq. ft, players must hit the correct tier to avoid long and undulated lag putts. For the 1995 Ryder Cup legend it proved  grist  to the mill, signing for a one under par four and getting the Malahide golfer off to a good start.

He remains within two shots of the leader after five holes. 

Roger Chapman took the early clubhouse lead after a run of four birdies in five holes around the turn helped the Englishman to a three under par 68.

Chapman fared best among the morning starters in testing winds at Harbor Shores, Michigan, thanks to his hat-trick of birdies from the seventh for a front nine of 34 and then another birdie on the par three 11th. Indeed it could have been five in a row but for a three-putt from distance on the tenth.

The fact he hit every fairway and 16 of the 18 greens in regulation underlined the quality of his ball-striking in the season’s first Senior Major, and only his second event of the season.

“I drove the ball very well, didn't miss a fairway,” he said. “And the iron play was good as well. I had a couple of three putts out there, but I think that if you don't have a three putt in 72 holes around here, then you've done really well.”

“It was a solid round,” he continued. “Surprising really, because we have only played one event in Europe this year, so this is probably my fourth real competitive round this year. So it's a long way to come, and a long wait. But I'm very pleased with the way things are going.”

Chapman’s birdie run began with a 30 foot putt on the seventh, followed by some lovely wedge play on the next two holes as he pitched to 12 feet twice and holed out each time.

“That was a nice little run there and for the momentum going for the round.”

And after the slight blip of a three putt on ten he drained a 40 foot putt on the very next hole.

The 16th was arguably the best indication of the strength of the wind as after hitting nine iron approaches in practice he was forced to go in with a four iron.

“The wind was really starting to pick up about the sixth and seventh. That's when we noticed it. With the wind, and the greens are quite firm, it's very difficult to actually get the ball close. So you might hit a good shot in and it might just go with the wind a bit and go 25, 30 feet past. And then with the slopes on the greens that it makes the putting quite tricky as well.”

Chapman’s closest early challenger was American John Cook, in the clubhouse one behind after a two under par 69.

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