VIRGINIA WATER, England — Henrik Stenson’s title rivals will be looking over their shoulders after the Swede moved menacingly within two shots of the BMW PGA Championship lead despite being below his best Friday.
Combatting winds gusting up to 20mph on another hot summer’s day at Wentworth, the British Open winner scrambled his way to a second-round 71 that left him handily placed behind pacesetting trio Thomas Pieters, Francesco Molinari and Scott Jamieson.
Stenson finished with a five-under aggregate of 139 at the European Tour’s flagship event.
Stenson’s good friend and Ryder Cup partner Justin Rose can vouch for that after the Olympic gold medalist and world number nine narrowly made the cut despite plunging to a 74 for 146.
The 41-year-old Swede ended his round in confidence-boosting fashion by delivering a precise approach to within a foot of the flag for a birdie four at the 18th.
Scotland’s Jamieson held his nerve after a jittery bogey-par-double bogey opening to record a matching 70.
Pieters, who made a spectacular Ryder Cup debut when Europe lost to the United States in Minnesota last year, went round in 69.
Germany’s Max Kieffer (68) was alone in fourth position on 138, one ahead of Stenson, 2015 winner An Byeong Hun of South Korea, England’s Lee Westwood, South African Branden Grace and overnight leader Johan Carlsson of Sweden.
Langer regains lead
Bernhard Langer sat on a bench and ate a sandwich, chatted with his playing partners and signed autographs for fans as he waited out a 41-minute wind delay on the 14th tee at Trump National. When play resumed, he swung two clubs to loosen up and got back to business.
Langer grinded out three pars in the teeth of the wind and, when conditions began to improve, he took advantage, making five straight birdies to regain the lead Friday at the Senior PGA Championship.
Langer was 11-under through 13 holes when play was halted because of darkness, one shot ahead of Vijay Singh, who shot 68 amid wind measured at more than 30 mph. Singh was at 10-under 134 through two rounds. Billy Andrade also shot 68 and was one shot behind Singh. Their scores were eight shots better than the field average.
The wind was so strong that golf balls moved on exposed greens, sand blew out of bunkers and whitecaps formed on the muddy Potomac River.
Playing in his first Senior PGA, the 54-year-old Singh made par putts from outside 10 feet on 15 and 16 and two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th. Through two rounds, the long-hitting Fijian is 7-under on the par 5s, his only par coming when he three-putted the third hole.
Playing with Singh, Corey Pavin made a quadruple-bogey 7 on the fourth hole and followed his first-round 69 with an 82 to miss the cut. Fran Quinn shot 80 but will play the weekend on the strength of his first-round 66.
David Toms was 7-under with two holes left. Jimenez salvaged his round with a 25-footer from off the green for eagle on 18. — Agencies
