Day 2 Golf: Scottish Open

Hello, this Barclays Scottish Open is so far the spectators, nearly

12,000 of them, on the opening day, and the players are lapping up this

ground breaking trip to the Scottish Highlands. Not only have

we been dazzled by the view, but to the quality of play. Over half of

the 156 strong field finished under For round one on the wide and

generous fair ways on Castle Stuart Golf Links. Happy days indeed. Day

one of this new course, new setting in a playful mood. Sunshine and

rain, and Lee Westwood coped with it all, cruising to 7-under. Only

one many officially sits higher, and he tucked himself just behind

67. Edoardo Molinari found six on his way to a 67. And Monty was

still hoping for a place in the Open, still rages against the dying

of the light, sometimes just raging. Other hopes fell on Mark Warren,

who made seven birdies in, and Mickelson, hoping for better in

round 2. There was a flurry of birdies and eagles in a breezey day

and in the end it was Mark Tullo and Graeme McDowell who set the

pace. Edoardo Molinari and Luke Donald were very much in touch in

that large group, but 5-under. On Day 2, even more inviting

conditions for low scoring.. Scott Jamieson was putting together a

remarkable run, he began at the ninth with a bogey, five birdies in

a row followed thereafter and this was an eagle chance at the long 18

and he took it took. Belgian's player finally got his he

ward with a win in China, and big hitter was in the mix again. Again,

this is for eagle. He took it to two and picked up two shots to move

two and picked up two shots to move to 7-under.. Clearly he was

enjoying Castle Stuart. His sixth birdie of the round. And this man,

Graeme McDowell, was setting a cracking pace. Shh this is also his

sixth birdie of the day. He took his first nine holes in 30 shots

and he is 9-under par this. Is comment isn't that a lovely scene,

looking up towards Inverness and there is the stately castle, the

castle Stewart. Where the family have lived on and off for 700 or

800 years or so. It is a very calm day and the scoring has been

absolutely stunning so far. Here we are at the second green, Scott

Jamieson, this is for an eagle. He is already 11-under F he could roll

this in he would be 13-under par and he has.

CHEERING Well, done, sir. 8 hupblder for his

round, starting with a bogey. the clubs you know, the new clubs.

The leader by four at this moment, but for how long I wonder. He has

judged it well, Daniel Ellsberg. is going along nicely as well, four

out in 30, par the first, and this was for a spot at number two. 7-

under for the day. This is blistering golf at the moment.

Everywhere you look the leader boards are full of red figure, it

is wonderful to see. Great for the spectators, and there are many of

there playing today. Not breath of wind. Angel Cabrera, he is really

hot. 8-under. Scott Jamieson now at it come down - just in the little

hollow. Some delightful holes here. Here is the man who has come into

his own here, and another birdie for the Belgian. That leaves the

course fairly defenceless. At the third, he will pass four. At the

back of the green n the hazard. Not too bad from where he was. He

couldn't ground his club, hacking out of the rough, he will have that

for a birdie. He was a little unlucky with his tee shot just

trickling over the green. Scott Jamieson, this is his shot at the

fourth, he must have potted down to there and that is a drop shot. It

stops an amazing run. Look at that. It started with a bogey at the

tenth and those birdie, two eagles and now a bogey at the fourth. A

short par three as well. He is 6- under at the moment, this is his

second shot at the 7th green. There. (APPLAUSE)

He always looked a very good player to me. Perhaps hasn't won quite as

much as he might have done. Els is at the second, he is going for an

eagle putt. (APPLAUSE)

167 yards, now he gets the ball out and McDowell leaves himself another

chance. The wide stance of Simon Dyson and they will going along

very nicely. 7-under. Paul Lawrie at the third, 7-under, he is about

to go 8-under, and he does. (APPLAUSE)

Paul Lawrie showing some splendid form. This man has had a very good

season. He has done very well indeed. The front nine, and the

back nine, moves to 9-under. Move I along well. As we thought it might

be it is low scoring with very little breeze here at Castle Stuart.

And for Scotland, Scott Jamieson two shots clear from earn Els.

Padraig Harrington going along well out on the course. Phil Mickelson

now. On the tee at the fourth. He has work to do. He is only 3-under,

can't afford to mess about.. That looks a beauty. Qualifying score,

it could only be a 3, or 4-under par. Very low. Another man going

well, Mark Waugh ren. An eagle coming. Moves to 9-under. A little

bit up and down, currently 9-under par. That sets up another birdie

chance. He is chasing one. Behind, a wonderful shot, sings back left.

Simon Dyson at the sixth. Right on the edge of the bunker. His fourth

shot, he will tap that in and stay 7-under par. He has played some

very good golf this year. He was a great star in those hot places, he

played out in the Far East for a year or two. Another birdie,

talking about what a good season it has been. 7 in the PGA, and 8th in

the Italian, and three behind, this fellow, Scott. Els playing 167, a

little bit of breeze in his face, just a touch uphill. Oh. It went do

the right somewhere having driven the previous grown, he had chance

of a birdie, it was a little bit across Els. That was very awkward.

You don't see there too often, do we? No, but it was a poor shot by

his standards. Here is Dyson, 7- under, second in at the seventh. He

has a bounce through those delightful little bumps and hollows.

Very cleverly designed. Now, that was a bit wayward, and he went

award with that one as well. Oh, dear. Knock on wood. He has left

himself a tough one from there, my goodness. Whiteford, another birdie

chance. It sounded sweet and right into the cup. 11-under.

(APPLAUSE) Nicolas Colsaerts, he is doing a

birdie putt drop in at the moment. (APPLAUSE)

Mark Warren here at the eighth. What a shot. Back to 7-under.

Scoring is very hot today F this calm weather continues, it could

well be many, many under par. just came up short of the putting

surface, this for a birdie. Beautifully done. 11-under.

(APPLAUSE) Yesterday, Lee Westwood went round

in 65. It could be broken this morning, and Graeme may well be one

of them. It has perfect. Picked up a little bit since early doors but

still delightful. Very calm, Jamieson still leads the way but

system of the leaders are beginning to stumble a little bit, a dropped

shot here, a dropped shot there. A long way to go. They are playing

Scott Jamieson. He has given that a biff past the hole. A long par

three and this is to save his par. Els, oh, my Lord. That is horrible.

I am afraid Els' problem all too often. It is a real 360, isn't it?

It is haunting him. It was hit too hard. There was nothing wrong with

anything, he just hit it too hard. You are too strong, Ernie! A tricky

putt. That has opened the door to the rest of the field, a double

bogey. (APPLAUSE)

Self-inflicted wound there, Ken, were they not? Now they are

storming around the course, as indeed is Whiteford. Some more of

the big names will come out this afternoon, so they will be opening

the weather remains the same. Colsaerts. Here on the front right,

he wants to just feed it down short of the green, let it trickle down

as we saw from Fisher. He has moved it in off that little bump. Look at

it now. (APPLAUSE)

Yet another birdie. Steven, a big tea shot off a par six. That is

perfect. Sit down, sit down. He will head it up for an eagle. Peter

Whiteford, Scott Jamieson, Colin Montgomerie, a lot of Scots up this

week. They love it when they come home. Colsaerts taps in. One hole

to play. (APPLAUSE)

It is getting more consistency into his game and here is something who

is usually pretty consistent, Simon Dyson. He is 67-under par. -- 7-

under par. That is going to - oh, no! Life is unfair at time, isn't

it. Don't go in there, for goodness sake. Would you believe it? Well, I

saw it and I can hardly believe it. Go hard, go hard! That was a

beautiful bounce. Keep going. A little unlucky. If you get your tee

shot, just chasing through the little valley. A long bird ji putt

for Peter Whiteford. A fairly seizable par putt to come.

greens have a fair bit of pace in them, haven't they? I do like

watching Angel Cabrera play. This tee shot at the 8th, 196 yards

today, and there was another one. He is putting the ball in some nice

places and making the course a lot easier today, particularly under

these conditions. We will see this birdie attempt. A three putt from

distance, but a 3 putt none theless. Two behind the leaders now. 9th,

Scott Jamieson. (APPLAUSE)

Well done. A good par. A good saving putt on the last. One

blemish, and that was the nasty double bogey on the 8th. After that,

a great round of golf. Well done. He has been playing some delightful

golf. He was a little unlucky with the tee shot, it just stopped on

the run. This comes from the right. A lot of it is to deal with the

speed of putt. He is 11-under par. How, that was a good touch, wasn't

it? Finishes right behind the hole. David second to the ninth hole. He

is playing alongside Colsaerts. Seven birdies today from him.

Cabrera for birdie at the eighth. This to go 9-under par, and he has.

(APPLAUSE) Masters champion. Nicolas Colsaerts,

to the ninth. If you miss the greens here there are so many

different ways to play the pitches and chip, float them up. Peter

Whiteford just in the first cut, very generous which is py stuff.

Colsaerts here at the ninth. He is 10-under. This is for a par. His

good luck comes to a bit of a stopper.

(APPLAUSE) . Harrington. He was really singing

the praisings of this golf course at the start of it, loves it. Now,

McDowell down in the hollow. Just a little pitch. Sandy soil. Oh, we

saw Dyson trickling down there, that should go - could go. Luck of

the Irish, as they say. (APPLAUSE)

I was thinking 85. 85 yards or so to go. You won't see it, it has

just disappeared behind the live overall the green, you can just tea

the top half of the flag. The ground is very firm here. You have

to strike them so precisely. (APPLAUSE)

Hard ground. That is how they stand at the moment. Jamieson finished

with 66 and also 66, Nicolas Colsaerts. But for the rest of them

still some work to do but it looks like we will have a red-hot scoring

morning with lots more to come plater in the day. Graeme McDowell

from the back of the ninth, this is for a round of 63. Well done, well

five on the card, all threes and fours. Magic. Here is Whiteford.

Christian Nilsson at if 18th. Hit a little valley. Nicely judged, an

eagle chance. Harrington. We haven't seen much of him. Here he

is - 8-under now. (APPLAUSE)

Starting to hold one or two putts. Yes, much better. I like watching

him play, have done since he was an amateur. He played in the Walker

Nilsson runs off a very tidey round of golf. Three bogeys sprinkled in

there but a 6. -- 68. We will find out what the tatoos mean. Good

visitor from the United States, Matt Kuchar. 6-under par and he has

held another one. 7-under. (APPLAUSE)

. He is a great player. Whiteford is second to the seventh, playing

backwards into the breeze, par four. A wonderful iron shot, hitting

plenty of greens and regulations. Paul Lawrie. You can see the ball

moving right to left. He is lining up for a 64 as well. Wandering

about that putt, slightly, from Peter Whiteford. This man, age 30,

going along very nicely. Paul Lawrie, here he is, on the ninth.

He is 8-under par. Looks good. Right in the middle of the middle.

Very, very good, 9-under par. (APPLAUSE)

Look at all of those trees up there, good gracious me. Very well done.

bit up the hill from the birdie. (APPLAUSE)

A bogey, 66. He has had a good season so far, umpteen top tens.

Whiteford coming to the end of his round, his final hole.

(APPLAUSE) . Jose Mauel Lara, 17th tee to par

three. I just love seeing the ball running out. It was beautifully

judged. 219 yards down the broz. Peter Whiteford now, his final hole.

And he gets it. 11-under par. What an excellent round of golf, played

under delightful conditions. That is a terrific round of golf. Jose

Mauel Lara, can he also get to 11- under par. No, he can't. He cannot

believe it is still there. 10-under par, just one behind. A morning of

very good scoring. And Jose Mauel Lara would indeed go on to par the

18th for a round of 66. 10-under, one behind the leading trio. There

is a look at the leader board, p two northern Scots and an irinman.

When you see your name on the leader board, it is something you

get used to now, what were your ambitions when you did graduate to

the big tour. It is to keep your cards, get enough money up for that,

and rookie of the year was also I had something in mind, so I have

made a good start to that, and then hopefully a win or a top 16.

Congratulations, a course record, there were two in your group today,

inspired by Justin and yourself. Yes, Justin played nicely too. It

was one of those mornings you knew you had to go and do a score. You

have to stay patient, you cannot try to birdie every hole, you have

to try to play the shots and not try too hard. I got off to a nice

start, and that was the dream start and I played some nice golf after

that and gave myself a few chances and took a few. Like I say, it was

a perfect morning for score and you knew you had to go low. Tell us

about the way you finished off that round in style and what does it

feel like being joint leader? great, I am just hanging on to

Graeme McDowell's coat tails, a bit. It was a great finish. I am

delighted. Paul, lovely round of 64 today, pd jointly matches the

course's best. How did you feel about today? I played the same as

yesterday to a degree, I hit the ball very well but I played lovely

today. When you get links courses with no wind you have to take

advantage because there are plenty of days when there is hail and

raining a gale. That numbers with a nice score. I couldn't have done

any better, so it is nice. useful is this in the build up and

how important is this title in itself before the Open proper?

Depending on what everyone does on Saturday, 11-under par, and 8-under

par, I am certainly not under this tournament. I will keep working on

this tournament for the next two days. In fact, the conditions

worsened considerably, play barely under way for the late starters

when the threat of thunderstorms caused a two-hour stoppage. When

they returned, albeit in calm conditions at 5 o'clock, the rain

was hampering gown on this Castle Stuart and scoring became much

tougher. Although, Jamie Donaldson seemed impervious to the

distraction on his return, going 8- under. Now, Lee Westwood dropped a

shot at the second, but his iron play has been at times startling

brilliant this week and this approach to the 10th was an example

of that. All over the flag and he knocked that one in to return a 7-

under. Now, Westerwelle could over take to regain the number one

position, and they he was met back on the score line after he Missed

this one. The luck of the draw is playing its

part in this Scottish Open. None of the men out on the course make a

impression on the leader board. Would that change any time soon as

we pick up play. Everything is always - I have never seen this

fellow off balance. It is always as if he has a permanent photographer

waiting to snap him at the end of a swing. They were hopping up this

morning, we almost saw four or five hole-in-ones. Tea shot of Edoardo

Molinari, the prettiest hole in the golf course. It was a wonderful

shot. It is an elevated tee. Westwood had has two birdies and

two bogeys. That is a very attractive shot down to the green,

plenty of those over two the two days, just a beautiful putter of

the ball. Westwood for birdie. Coming off birdie on 10. Now, that

water is quite shallow, there is a few little channels going in and

out. I haven't seen a lot of activity on the water. Molinari for

his birdie. (APPLAUSE)

And that is three birdies in a row for Molinari. He can really putt

this fellow. 5-under, the defending champion. That was beautifully

played. (APPLAUSE)

What does Monty have here. Just a tad under 100 yard and to realise

his dream of playing next week he needs to start converting a few of

these into birdies. (APPLAUSE)

It looks good. You will never know.. The black isle over there. Monty

now for his three. He, too, comes up short. Just taking a bit of a

string out of the greens with the light rain. 6-under par.

chances of playing next week are slipping away. Yes!

(APPLAUSE) 33 for Hanson, 8-under total. Just

one bogey there on five. Big Darren Clarke on the 8th hole. One of four

beautiful par threes here at Castle Stuart, and what a wonderful long

iron shot. Molinari, second shot here on 12. Up hill par five.

Beautiful shot. Par fives really are scoring opportunities here.

Along with a couple of drivable par fours, there is plenty of birdies

to be made. Lee Westwood at the 12th. Par five. There is just a

hint of wind. It is blowing from more or less the same direction

since this event started on Thursday, and that is coming round

and down and on. (APPLAUSE)

Darren two under for his round today, 5-under for the tournament

and is to move to six. (APPLAUSE)

Winner earlier this year, now he moved back to Northern Ireland, his

home town. 6-under overall, 3-under today. Second shot here of

Montgomerie, looking down on the green. He is going to aim this just

right at the flag and there are rumbles of thunder in the

background and - that was a fierce bang, he won't like that, that was

vicious. Play may be stopped again for lightning. Lightning is in the

air and that is one thing on golf courses they are always veryer in

boy, in your come. That was the second stoppage in of

the day. TV coverage was brought to a halt at that point and the leader

board still dominated by those lucky morning starters. So, we will

have to bring you all the rest of the knews from round two when we

return on BBC2 this afternoon at 12.50. We are almost halfway

through this Barclays Scottish Open, and clearly an awful lot more to

think about over the coming couple will of days. Thereafter we will be

turning our focus to the 140th playing of the Open champion from

next Wednesday. Preview the programs on Wednesday evening and

then we will be live from Royal St George. One man who loved the Cup

was Seve Ballesteros and don't forget on Sunday night we will be

playing a special tribute to a special player. There are many ways

to play golf. You can build your own course by using your

imagination. He put so much passion into the game, how much he wanted

it, how much the crowds love him. Forget the golf, we miss him as a

person. He was there for one reason because he had great sense of

humour. He had a vibrant sense of humour. He never talked about the

worse. Join me on Sunday night at 10.25 on BBC1. That special