Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson both moved to within one shot of the lead at the halfway point in the BMW International Open as a two under par 70 for the Spanish Masters champion and a three under par 69 for the Open Champion elevated them to an eight under total.
Joakim Lagergren of Sweden and Frenchman Joёl Stalter both led the way on nine under after round two courtesy of a six under 66 and a four under 68 respectively, but the two young guns will no doubt be wary of two current Major champions right on their coat-tails.
Race to Dubai leader Garcia reached a hot streak at the back end of his front nine, birdieing three in a row from the sixth and, although he carded two bogeys on the back nine, the 37 year old finished with a birdie to the delight of the fans at Golfclub München Eichenried.
Stenson, meanwhile, opened with a three at the par four first and also finished with a birdie on the way to a three under 69. They both shared third place with Rikard Karlberg of Sweden (69), Englishman Richard Bland (69) and Thomas Detry of Belgium (71).
Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger (68) and Tommy Fleetwood of England (71) were among those a shot further back on six under par while home favourite Martin Kaymer unfortunately missed a six foot birdie putt at the last to miss the cut by one shot.
Player quotes:
Joakim Lagergren
“It was great out there. I had a lot of fun. I’m playing really good, especially from tee-to-green, so I’m happy with that.
“I missed a really short one, like two-and-a-half-footer on the 14th so that felt pretty bad. But I got it back pretty quickly coming home so that was good.
“It was a little bit windier today. I would say the greens are a bit smaller when it’s this windy, but if you’re still hitting really good shots out there, it’s scoreable. It was great fun playing with Thomas Bjørn too, I enjoyed playing with him.”
Joёl Stalter
“I played really well, gave myself a lot of opportunities. It was pretty tough out there with the wind. It was very gusty, so difficult to control the ball and it was getting firmer as well. So I’m really pleased with that round.
“You’re going to miss a few greens out there, because they are pretty small. You want to hit the fairway to make sure you control the ball, and the short game and chipping needs to be on point.
“I hit more fairways today so I was able to keep it under control on my second shots and had a few good breaks, a few bad breaks. I think it evened out today, and I chipped really well the last two days. I made some good putts, as well. Good short putts. It’s two solid rounds.”
Henrik Stenson
“It was a pretty tricky day I would say. We had pretty strong, gusty winds out there and the pin positions on a few holes are a lot tougher than yesterday. So I think the course plays a whole lot tougher.
“I’m not on top of my game by any means but I think it was a good kind of professional fighting display and we kept it pretty tidy. We made a couple of birdies when we had the chances and didn’t drop too many. You don’t have to be ashamed of three under around here.
“The greens are a little slower and sometimes you’re not quite getting there. Every time you feel like you want to try and force it, you seem to hit it four or five feet past.
“You don’t want to be standing over those all day because you’re going to miss one or two then for sure. But I managed to stay away from that, and like I said, I kept it fairly tidy despite not playing my best.”
Sergio Garcia
“To be honest, obviously it was much tougher today with the wind very gusty out there. The greens in the afternoon, after all the traffic, weren’t very good. So it was difficult to make putts. But overall, I felt like I played quite solid throughout the whole day.
“I had just a couple little mistakes here and there. Other than that, I felt like it was a solid round. I would have loved it to be four or five under which I think I could have done quite easily, but it was a little bit tricky out there today.
“The greens are bumpy and they are much slower than last week. It is difficult when you come from fast greens at the U.S. Open and the greens are not smooth in the afternoon.
“Obviously it’s tougher to get it to the hole sometimes. You’re trying to put a good stroke on it. You don’t want to get out of rhythm, and unfortunately four or five putts came up a little bit short.
“I hit a good drive at the 18th. I thought it might have had a chance of staying in the fairway and the lie was okay. It was a little bit of a flier lie. I hit a really nice eight-iron to the middle of the green and two-putted for birdie. So at least it makes the dinner taste a little bit better.”
Scores:
135 J Stalter (Fra) 67 68, J Lagergren (Swe) 69 66,
136 R Bland (Eng) 67 69, T Detry (Bel) 65 71, R Karlberg (Swe) 67 69, S Garcia (Esp) 66 70, H Stenson (Swe) 67 69,
137 M Southgate (Eng) 67 70, N Fasth (Swe) 68 69, H Otto (RSA) 68 69,
138 B Wiesberger (Aut) 70 68, W Ormsby (Aus) 64 74, P Widegren (Swe) 69 69, E De La Riva (Esp) 70 68, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 69 69, A Romero (Arg) 67 71, T Fleetwood (Eng) 67 71,
139 J Fahrbring (Swe) 72 67, G Coetzee (RSA) 69 70, J Smith (Eng) 70 69, S Kapur (Ind) 67 72, J Luiten (Ned) 66 73,
140 R Green (Aus) 69 71, D Lipsky (USA) 71 69, P Lawrie (Sco) 73 67, T Olesen (Den) 66 74, M Kramer (Ger) 70 70, J Rutherford (Eng) 69 71, J Ahlers (RSA) 67 73, G Storm (Eng) 71 69, R Paratore (Ita) 70 70,
141 V Dubuisson (Fra) 72 69, J Donaldson (Wal) 70 71, A Sullivan (Eng) 70 71, R McEvoy (Eng) 69 72, S Henry (Sco) 69 72, M Foster (Eng) 69 72, B Rumford (Aus) 68 73, J Morrison (Eng) 67 74, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 67 74, J Winther (Den) 69 72, M Schmitt (am) (Ger) 74 67,
142 E Molinari (Ita) 72 70, D Burmester (RSA) 72 70, N Colsaerts (Bel) 71 71, P Maddy (Eng) 69 73, M Kieffer (Ger) 72 70, P Larrazábal (Esp) 71 71, N Bertasio (Ita) 70 72, A Chesters (Eng) 71 71, F Fritsch (Ger) 69 73, E Els (RSA) 71 71, T Lewis (Eng) 71 71, N Elvira (Esp) 72 70, A Björk (Swe) 71 71, P Hanson (Swe) 69 73, J Van Zyl (RSA) 70 72, G Havret (Fra) 70 72, J Dantorp (Swe) 69 73, R Langasque (Fra) 71 71, D Brooks (Eng) 70 72, J Carlsson (Swe) 72 70, L Bjerregaard (Den) 70 72,
143 M Korhonen (Fin) 70 73, J Kruger (RSA) 73 70, D Horsey (Eng) 71 72, O Fisher (Eng) 72 71, J Scrivener (Aus) 71 72, S Heisele (Ger) 70 73, B Stone (RSA) 72 71, A Otaegui (Esp) 70 73, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 69 74, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 69 74, R Wattel (Fra) 73 70, F Zanotti (Par) 68 75, J Campillo (Esp) 74 69, Z Lombard (RSA) 74 69, L Canter (Eng) 73 70, R Fox (Nzl) 68 75, J Quesne (Fra) 75 68, R Sterne (RSA) 71 72, A Wall (Eng) 71 72, D Im (USA) 67 76, D Frittelli (RSA) 72 71, S Crocker (am) (USA) 69 74,
CUT
144 A Knappe (Ger) 69 75, M Kaymer (Ger) 72 72, M Manassero (Ita) 69 75, B Ritthammer (Ger) 73 71, M Orrin (Eng) 68 76, B Virto (Esp) 68 76, R Gouveia (Por) 72 72, D Fichardt (RSA) 75 69, B Evans (Eng) 74 70, J Heath (Eng) 72 72, G King (Eng) 71 73, M Pavon (Fra) 75 69,
145 S Soderberg (Swe) 72 73, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 75, M Nixon (Eng) 72 73, E Pepperell (Eng) 72 73, A Karlsson (Swe) 75 70, D Drysdale (Sco) 72 73, F Aguilar (Chi) 69 76,
146 P Peterson (USA) 72 74, L Slattery (Eng) 72 74, C Hanson (Eng) 71 75, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 73, H Porteous (RSA) 73 73, S Brazel (Aus) 73 73, S Manley (Wal) 70 76,
147 S Tiley (Eng) 72 75, W Ashun (Chn) 75 72, L Jensen (Den) 77 70, S Walker (Eng) 73 74, C Paisley (Eng) 72 75, R Karlsson (Swe) 72 75, M Fraser (Aus) 76 71, M Siem (Ger) 76 71,
148 T Bjørn (Den) 74 74, K Broberg (Swe) 72 76, M Armitage (Eng) 78 70, S Webster (Eng) 70 78, M Rottluff (Ger) 73 75, A Quiros (Esp) 68 80, J Parry (Eng) 73 75, N Johansson (Swe) 73 75, J Walters (RSA) 75 73,
149 P Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 74 75, B Hebert (Fra) 73 76, T Jaidee (Tha) 68 81, M Ilonen (Fin) 74 75,
150 S Jamieson (Sco) 71 79, R Echenique (Arg) 76 74, R Gonzalez (Arg) 79 71, D Perrier (Fra) 75 75, J Lima (Por) 75 75,
151 R Jacquelin (Fra) 75 76, H Arkenau (Ger) 78 73, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 73 78, S Lee (Kor) 72 79, S Khan (Eng) 72 79, J Olazábal (Esp) 75 76, R Finch (Eng) 72 79,
152 C Shih-Chang (Tpe) 76 76, P Angles (Esp) 80 72, A Cañizares (Esp) 74 78, T Rosenmüller (am) (Ger) 73 79,
153 D Stewart (Sco) 70 83, N Kimsey (Eng) 74 79,
154 J Singh (Ind) 76 78,
155 S Dyson (Eng) 74 81,
158 J Kolbing (Ger) 72 86,
159 M Warren (Sco) 74 85,
** C Shinkwin (Eng) 72 RT, D Howell (Eng) 75 RT,
