Phil Tataurangi: Fasth shows that touch of something special

Three 63s made for a remarkable second round at Gulf Harbour.

Of the three who equalled the course record, Niclas Fasth's bogey-free round, and his 30 on the tougher back nine, was sensational.

The three toughest holes on the course yesterday were 14, 16 and 17.

For all his terrific shot-making, you could argue that the most important shot he played was the second out of the thick fescue rough on 14.

That hole could have gone horribly wrong thanks to a wide tee shot into the thick stuff. He managed to advance the ball to within 40m of the green. Courtesy of a deft pitch to a metre from the hole, he was able to hole out and keep his round going.

Accomplishing a par from a position like that is just as rewarding as making any of the three eagles earlier in the round.

That par kept his momentum going. When you hit one shot which threatens to derail your round and undo all the good work of the previous hours, it takes something special to pick yourself up.

That's what Fasth did yesterday, and it takes outstanding physical and mental skills not to let a bad situation faze you. It was testament to his state of mind.

Richard Green went through the front nine in 29 and finished with back-to-back birdies for his 63. He is putting himself into a good challenging position.

Miles Tunnicliff had the best of the conditions yesterday morning and capitalised impressively.

The back nine played two shots harder on average than the front nine yesterday.

For that reason, among many others, Fasth will wake up in a good frame of mind today.

To back up 65 with 63 proves his confidence must be high. He won't be thinking about winning the Open yet, but he'll know he does not need to work on any special aspect of his game.

His thinking will most likely be to just keep doing what is obviously working for him.

What he did yesterday was stretch out the field. He might look at Green, Craig Parry and his countryman Joakim Haeggman as posing particular threats, but he won't be worried about that yet. That will come if he's still at the top of the field tonight.

With the class in this field, attacks could come from anywhere, and there's no point worrying about that until tomorrow.

For those players who spent yesterday afternoon sitting on the cusp of the cut, which ended up being four-under, it is an awkward time.

Some players shut it out and simply concentrate on their game; others try to keep abreast of developments.

My philosophy is to have a game plan that's aggressive enough to score better than whatever the cut is going to be. But if I'm faced with that situation I don't change my plan for I cannot control how others play.

Of the three New Zealanders to make the cut, I'm rapt for Steve Alker.

At 10-under, he's in excellent shape, six shots off the pace. He's not the type of player who can tear the course apart, but he's consistent and controls his ball flight well.

Alker is not the longest player, but is super-accurate, has a good head and a good short game.

Gareth Paddison and Stephen Scahill, at four-under, won't be in title contention, but their aim will be to produce two good quality rounds and get the best possible finish.

Our two big hopes, David Smail and Michael Campbell, are gone. Smail's still in pretty good nick and I reckon he'll have a good year.

As for Cambo, he's not in the form we're used to and he's certainly not showing what he's capable of.

He'll be hurting more than anybody, but it's early in the year and he's only played a couple of tournaments.

There's an old golf saying: when things are going bad, look short-term; when they're going good, look short-term.

He cannot worry and risk making panic decisions. The end of the season is when you get reflective. At the start you just think about the next shot, the next tournament.

Cambo will play about 20 tournaments this year so he's got plenty of time to turn things around.

A winning score? It's hard to predict, but provided the next two days don't produce extreme conditions, my guess would be anything between 20 and 24 under.

* Phil Tataurangi is one of New Zealand's leading professional golfers