Defending champion Danny Willett produced a seven-under 65 on Friday to put himself back in the running for the BMW International title. The Englishman carded five birdies on the front nine as his score of 10 under took the early clubhouse lead at the end of the second round of the European Tour event in Munich. However, he had to settle for a tied fourth-place finish heading into the weekend after Ernie Els, Matthew Baldwin and Alexander Levy moved past him. Willett&aposs season has been hampered by injuries so to be able to build on his opening round of 69 and put himself firmly in contention to retain his crown pleased him. “I haven&apost played a lot of tournament golf in the last 14 weeks, so it was a bit rusty, and today I hit some proper golf shots again and I played really nicely,” he said. “It&aposs good to put yourself in a position. First time coming back to a tournament defending champion is always nice.” Els&apos round of 69 was not error-free the reigning Open champion carded a double bogey on the par-four seventh and a bogey on the 16th but he was able to keep himself at the top of the leaderboard with four birdies on the back nine, including one on the 18th to push ahead of Levy and Baldwin. Willett is joined at 10 under par by Bernd Wiesberger, the Austrian recovering from a bogey at the opening hole to produce a round of 68. A group of five players, including local favourite Martin Kaymer, are one shot further back at nine under. Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez is among them after he shot a five-under par 67 to move himself 23 places up the leaderboard. The day&aposs biggest climber was South Africa&aposs Darren Fichardt, the 38-year-old firing a 66 to move up 54 places and clear of the cut at two under. It was a bad day at the office for England&aposs Tom Lewis, who was part of the leading group at the end of the first round. The 22-year-old had a nightmare second round, carding a 78 to drop 87 places and miss the cut by two shots. Bogeys at two, six, eight, 10, 14 and 16 plus a double bogey at 11 saw Lewis tumble out of contention at Golfclub Muenchen Eichenried. Former Ryder Cup captains Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal both missed the cut after tough opening rounds, Montgomerie by just one shot after two rounds of 71 and Olazabal further back at four over. Paul Casey and Sergio Garcia both scraped through to the weekend with late birdies, the Englishman&aposs coming at the final hole to beat the cut by one shot. Peter Fowler and Brett Rumford were the only two Australians to make the cut at six under.
Author: Omnisport