McDowell the man to catch at Valderrama
Graeme McDowell took charge at the second round of the Andalucia Valderrama Masters today, the Northern Irishman coming home four-under-par 67 to top the leaderboard on seven-under-par for the tournament.
McDowell started with a birdie on the opening hole and another was to follow on the eighth, though it was bookended with a couple of bogeys on the 5th and 9th. But the 31-year-old made no such slip-ups on the back nine, four birdies coming in the space of seven holes to help McDowell put two strokes between himself and nearest rival Gareth Maybin.
Maybin, a fellow Ulsterman, lies in second place on five-under for the tournament, three-under today after carding four birdies and a bogey. Two of those birdies came on the 15th and 17th holes to give the 30-year-old, who is still waiting for his first European Tour win, a boost at the finish. In third place was Niclas Fasth on three-under in total, the Swede having shot five-under-par 66 today in a flawless round that included five birdies.
Miguel Angel Jiménez came home one-under for his second round in a row, after six birdies and five bogeys. That fairly modest two-under for the tournament was still enough to see the Spaniard tied for fourth place along with Englishman Gary Boyd, also two-under today. Of the several players tied for sixth place on one-under, Ireland's Damien McGrane and Denmark's Thomas Björn were the best known names.
It's testament to the difficulty of the Valderrama course that Sergio Garcia can finish one-over for the tournament, two-over today, and still find himself in the top 20. The Spaniard blotted his round early on with a double bogey on the 5th, but is currently tied for 19th place.
Francesco Molinari suffered a late setback over the closing holes of his second round, the Italian bogeying the 16th, 17th and 18th holes despite beginning encouragingly with a birdie on the 1st - sadly that was Molinari's only one of the day. Like Garcia, the younger of the Molinari brothers finished two-over today, one-over for the tournament.
That leaves Molinari and Garcia on the same score as Spain's Pablo Larrazábal, who led the field after yesterday's first round. Larrazábal started badly today though, with a double bogey on the third, and the 27-year-old had a finish to forget too, bogeying the 15th, 16th and 17th to finish his round a woeful six-over.
Disappointing as that second day's play was from the Spaniard, he's still a shot to the good compared to Martin Kaymer. The German opted to participate in this tournament only a few weeks ago, when he realised that a strong performance here would give him the world No. 1 ranking.
But the chance of that milestone arriving this week looks fairly microscopic now, the 25-year-old played a three-over-par round today, leaving him tied for 40th place on four-over for the tournament. Kaymer came to this competition with the chance to make it four European Tour wins in as many tournaments played, but it will take something special indeed to fight his way back into contention after finishing 11 strokes off the lead.
Spain's José Maria Olazábal is on the same score as Kaymer, having shipped four bogeys and three birdies today to finish the round one-over. At least the 44-year-old veteran has done enough to ensure he'll be hanging around for the weekend.
Edoardo Molinari seems set to miss the cut, however. The elder of the Molinaris, Edoardo had a stinker yesterday, coming home five-over, and though he improved on that showing this afternoon, two double bogeys and a bogey on the 18th means the Italian finished two-over today, seven-over in all.
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