Golf: Campbell struggles to make cut

Michael Campbell

BARSEBACK, Sweden - New Zealand golfer Michael Campbell returned from a thunderstorm delay to birdie two of his closing three holes and make the cut in the Scandinavian Masters in Sweden.

After starting the just a stroke from the lead, Campbell struggled for the most part of his second round before eventually ending with a three over par 75 for a one under par tally on the Barseback course near Malmo in Sweden.

It left last year's US Open champion trailing nine strokes behind the leading duo of England's Mark Roe (65) and Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts (67) who head the field on 10-under par.

Campbell had dropped three shots in three holes from the 10th that sent him back to level par just moments before the siren sounded to eventually halt play for 76 minutes.

He returned to the course to fall back to one over par when he bogeyed the 14th. But the current world No. 24 fought back with birdies at 16 and 17 and then just missing a three-metre birdie putt on the final green.

At the 16th Campbell was in a greenside bunker and holed out from two metres whilst at the next he rolled in a six-metre birdie putt.

"I guess the break came at the right time as I was struggling somewhat," he said.

Stephen Scahill, the other New Zealander in the event, missed the cut with a four over par tally after recording a second straight round of 74.

Roe concluded his second round in spectacular fashion to grab a share of an early two-shot lead with Colsaerts.

Roe shattered his seven-iron into three pieces while claiming the 18th hole birdie that took him alongside Colsaerts on 10-under-par 134. His seven-under 65 was only a stroke off the Barseback course record.

The 43-year-old Roe, with a history of mishaps and fines by the European Tour, could have done himself serious injury on the last hole when playing from alongside a tree.

But instead he watched his ball arc out of the trees to six feet for his seventh birdie.

"If I'd played the shot I wanted, I could have broken an arm or a wrist," Roe told reporters. "So I decided on the route that would definitely snap the club.

"But you don't often see clubs broken in three places and a piece could still have snapped off and hit me. Luck favours the brave.

Englishman Roe is struggling in 144th place on the money list but remains unworried at the thought of losing his card.

If he does not keep it he will retire and look for a job in golf. If he does make it, he will play "around a dozen" tournaments next season. He wants to spend more time with his family in the summer, particularly his twin five-year-old daughters.

Roe suggested he might run a trick-shot show and he certainly has the credentials. In 1987 he practised for a tournament with exploding golf balls, wearing a paper bag on his head.

He has been fined for throwing spaghetti over fellow professional Russell Claydon's head during a French Open, a tournament he once won despite having a seriously swollen hand stung by a wasp.

In 1995 the man who came into golf after perforating an eardrum in a diving spill, was seriously injured when struck on the head by the ball of an amateur during a pro-am.

In the same year he was fined £2000 ($6190) by the European Tour after antics at this week's Barseback course, when he hit a six-inch putt 45 yards past the hole on his way to an 11 and a score of 58 on the back nine. He even miscounted and was disqualified.

Roe's most costly mishap, though, came in the 2003 British Open, when he forgot to exchange cards with Jesper Parnevik before the third round at Royal St George's and, instead of contending strongly for the lead, was disqualified.

Colsaerts continued his bid for a maiden title with a second 67. Swede Fredrik Jacobson bogeyed the last two holes to drop off the top of the leader board and holds third place after a 67.

- NZPA, REUTERS