Nerveless Goosen recovers from early error

Published on Friday 10 July 2009 22:54

EVERY club golfer knows how it feels to stand on the first tee in the monthly medal and nervously sclaff the opening shot somewhere in the direction of the ladies' tee. It's an unnerving experience which usually ends in tears for the hapless amateur.

As one of the most elegant, smooth swinging professional golfers of recent times, Retief Goosen is an unusual candidate for an opening duff.

When the two time US Open champion stepped onto the tenth tee (his first] at Loch Lomond yesterday and reached for a 3 wood, suddenly and unexpectedly the wheels came off.

Unlike the frazzled club man, mark you, who could easily take 63 blows to reach the turn, Goosen completed all 18 holes in 63 after recovering from the indignity of a low squirter at the start to sign for the 11 under par total of 131.

He leads at the halfway mark of the 3million Barclays Scottish Open by two strokes from Australia's Adam Scott. Martin Laird is the leading Scot on seven under.

"I was trying to hit a 3-wood off the tee and I hit a low, thinny one going low, right, probably not even 180 yards," said Goosen. "I couldn't get out of the rough over the water, and laid up with a wedge and then hit a 7-iron onto the green. So it was a bit of a weird start. My playing partners (Geoff Ogilvy and Oliver Wilson] kept quiet. I'm sure they were laughing. I had a joke with them on the 12th when I hit a good one. I said, 'That was a better lie I had on this tee…'"

Since professionals routinely blast the ball more than 300 yards, Goosen was asked if he could remember when he'd last measured a tee shot of 180 yards. "When I hit a 6 iron," he grinned. "No, it happens. Not the first time I've done it and definitely not the last time I'm going to do it. But it was quite a bit of a shock. First shot in the morning, you are sort of wondering what sort of day it's going to be, but you've just got to keep telling yourself, hopefully, that was the last one and the rest is going to be good."

As it turned out, the rest of his round was better than good, in fact it was brilliant. In the best of the weather, when conditions were still and the sun was shining.

Already a champion at Loch Lomond in 2001, when he opened with a course record of 62, the normally taciturn South African doesn't need too much prompting to explain why he enjoys the Scottish Open.

"I do like it here," he said. "The golf course is fairly generous off the tee, and I'm not one of the straightest hitters, so it does help a little bit for the odd one, if you're off by 15 or 20 yards, then it might still stay on the edge (of the fairway]. Otherwise, I feel pretty confident around the course.

"I like the greens very much, I read them very well here. Obviously playing a golf course that you've played well around before, you always feel like coming back, you feel like you know how to shoot a good score."

Since Ernie Els, twice, and Tim Clark have also won Scotland's national championship at Loch Lomond, there must be something in the water here which appeals to South Africans. "It's very much like Johannesburg, very tree-lined," he volunteered. "A lot of the golf courses we play in Johannesburg have a similar sort of feel (to Loch Lomond].

Trailing Goosen by three strokes, Martin Kaymer, the winner of the French Open in a play-off with Lee Westwood on Sunday, has shrugged off weariness to post 65 and 134.

"I'm a little bit surprised that I'm still playing well," admitted the young German. "The French is also a huge tournament with a really good field. I'm really tired now, especially after going over to America for the US Open and coming back for Munich and the French."

A stroke further back on 135, Laird continued to catch the eye. The leading Scot making his professional debut on home turf posted 70 and 135. Threatening the lead after 13 holes of the second round, the Arizona based golfer's aggressive instincts tempted him to take on the green at the short par-4 14th.

It was a decision he didn't regret, even though his ball went into the hazard and he ran up 5. "It was a bit of a struggle at the end, but overall I was pleased," he said.

"The 14th was playing straight downwind and it was perfect to go for it. I said to my caddie I had to drop a shot somewhere, I just didn't think it would be on a driveable par 4. I've always played aggressive and never seem to play well when I become defensive. I've been driving it great all week and the only bad one was on the 14th."

Nick Watney, the powerful American who didn't take up the game until he was a teenager, signed for 68 and admitted he was relishing his first trip to Loch Lomond.

Winner of the Buick at Torrey Pines earlier this season, the 28-year-old from California has solid putting to thank for his strong showing.

"It's my first trip here and from what I hear, we got lucky with the weather. But it's beautiful and I'm really enjoying it. We have it so good in the States, but there's also a great Tour over here."

Westwood, 66 for 139, was a sound advert for the restorative value of sleep. Struggling to shake off flu, the Englishman reckoned it was stupid of him to tee up on Thursday. However, a course of antibiotics and 15 hours of sleep meant the former champion was almost as good as new.

The Ryder Cup man started with three consecutive birdies and by the time he had carded 66 was mighty relieved he had decided not to pull out of the event after all.

MADE THE CUT

Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 63131

Adam Scott (Aus) 66 67 133

Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 65 134

Marcus Fraser (Aus) 68 66134

Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 67 68135

Nick Watney (USA) 67 68 135

Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 66135

Soren Hansen (Den) 67 68135

Martin Laird 65 70135

Kenneth Ferrie 67 68135

Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 65 70135

Ross Fisher 69 67136

Richard Green (Aus) 64 72136

Camilo Villegas (Col) 69 67136

Mark Foster 68 68136

Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 69 67136

Paul McGinley 65 71136

Brett Rumford (Aus) 68 69137

Jason McCreadie 70 67137

Jamie Donaldson 69 68137

Gregory Havret (Fra) 67 70137

Gary Orr 70 68138

Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 69138

Markus Brier (Aut) 69 69138

Darren Clarke 69 69138

Stuart Appleby (Aus) 70 68138

Damien McGrane 71 68139

Brian Gay (USA) 70 69139

Oliver Wilson 74 65139

Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 70139

Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69 70139

Anthony Wall 70 69139

Rory McIlroy 68 71139

Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 70 69139

Lee Westwood 73 66139

Rodney Pampling (Aus) 68 71139

Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 69139

Angel Cabrera (Arg) 69 70139

Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 72139

Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 70139

Ross McGowan 67 72139

Richard Sterne (Rsa) 70 69139

Francesco Molinari (Ita) 67 73140

Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 68 72140

Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 69140

David Drysdale 67 73140

Paul Lawrie 68 72140

Shane Lowry 69 71140

Peter O'Malley (Aus) 74 66140

Christopher Doak 72 68140

Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 71 70141

Steve Webster 71 70141

James Kingston (Rsa) 69 72141

Scott Drummond 70 71141

John Bickerton 72 69141

Graeme Storm 65 76141

Oliver Fisher 73 68141

Lee Slattery 71 70141

Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 71141

Boo Weekley (USA) 71 70141

Ian Poulter 69 72141

Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 71141

Pablo Martin (Spa) 69 72141

Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 71141

Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 72142

Graeme McDowell 70 72142

Colin Montgomerie 73 69142

Scott Strange (Aus) 70 72142

Nick Dougherty 71 71142

Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 73 69 142

David Lynn 70 72142

Paul Broadhurst 71 71142

Seve Benson 70 72142

Gary Lockerbie 69 73142

Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 70142

Sam Little 70 72 142

Miles Tunnicliff 70 72142

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71)

MISSED THE CUT

Robert Dinwiddie 68 75143

Benn Barham 74 69143

Simon Dyson 71 72143

Peter Lawrie 73 70143

Pablo Larrazabal 74 69143

Niclas Fasth 70 73 143

Christian Nilsson 73 70 143

Charl Schwartzel 71 72143

Jarmo Sandelin 67 76143

Gareth Maybin 70 73 143

Simon Khan 71 72143

Robert Allenby 72 71143

Andres Romero 72 71143

Phillip Archer 71 72143

Tano Goya 71 72143

Ignacio Garrido 71 72143

Rory Sabbatini 73 71144

Nick Faldo 71 73144

Anton Haig 76 68144

Michael Campbell 69 75144

Marcel Siem 69 75144

Jose Manuel Lara 74 70144

Felipe Aguilar 72 72144

Peter Hanson 73 71144

John Daly 69 75144

Callum Macaulay 73 71144

Robert Rock 70 74144

Gary Murphy 72 72144

Marc Warren 76 68144

Wen-chong Liang 69 75144

Michael Jonzon 72 72144

Robert Jan Derksen 70 75145

Martin Erlandsson 71 74145

Anders Hansen 69 76145

Danny Willett 70 75145

Alvaro Quiros 73 72145

Stephen Dodd 73 72145

Bradley Dredge 75 70145

Jyoti Randhawa 75 70145

Jean-Baptiste Gonnet 72 74146

Jeev Milkha Singh 71 75146

Francois Delamontagne 74 72146

Phillip Price 72 74146

Maarten Lafeber 69 77146

Terry Pilkadaris 76 70146

Peter Hedblom 79 67146

Chapchai Nirat 76 70146

Sandy Lyle 72 74146

Mikko Ilonen 75 72147

David Horsey 72 75147

Pelle Edberg 75 72147

Simon Wakefield 72 75147

Ricardo Gonzalez 74 73147

Azuma Yano 77 70147

Richard Finch 75 72147

Alastair Forsyth 70 77147

Tim Clark 72 75147

Anthony Kang 74 74148

Hennie Otto 74 74148

Magnus A Carlsson 70 78148

Prayad Marksaeng 68 80148

Michael Hoey 73 75148

David Dixon 72 77149

Per-Ulrik Johansson 79 70149

Mark Brown 70 79149

Barry Lane 76 73149

Stephen Gallacher 72 78150

David Howell 73 77150

Metteo Manassero 74 76150

Johan Edfors 76 74150

Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 78151

Rafael Echenique 82 72154

Daniel Vancsik 77 78155

Wallace Booth 83 73156

Jeppe Huldahl 77 80157

Taco Remkes 78 79157

Nick Ludwell 76 81157

Paul Waring 68 RTD

Shiv Kapur 75RTD