Golf: Fatal fire hero tells of horror

Jarmo Sandelin has recounted his terrifying ordeal after a fatal fire in his Stockholm apartment block caused the death of a neighbour last week.

The former Ryder Cup player, who had previously been reluctant to discuss the fire, told Reuters on Friday that he carried a 77-year-old woman to safety but was unable to rescue her husband.

Sandelin, 41, smashed down a door with a fire extinguisher and plucked the woman from the burning building after evacuating his family from their own apartment.

"I smelt smoke and when I opened the kitchen door I shouted to my wife Linda to call the emergency services," he said after a second-round 75 put him joint 28th, 10 shots off the pace, at the halfway stage of the Spanish Open.

"I knew there was a fire somewhere, I took my fire extinguisher and ran downstairs. The smoke was heavy. I banged on all the doors to make sure everybody knew something was wrong.

"I heard a scream but the door where it came from was locked. It was quite an old apartment and luckily the door was not that solid, I got some kind of swing on it and managed to get it open.

"This woman was screaming loudly and there was terrifying dark black smoke coming out. I took a breath and went inside the apartment."

Sandelin said he could see nothing but heard "terrible screaming. I had just enough breath as long as I didn't fall or hit something," he said. "I would then have been breathing in this toxic smoke.

"The sound of the woman got closer ... I tried to get her out but she was panicking, she didn't want to move. I threw my fire extinguisher away and used my power to force her to come out and she fell in my arms.

"I pulled her out. I knew her husband was inside so I tried to go back but it was impossible. The emergency services took over but unfortunately he died in the ambulance on the way to hospital."

Sandelin said it was only later he realised he could have died too.

"The whole apartment was burnt out," said the Swede. "I'm lucky and my wife and kids were. My youngest son had been asleep when I arrived. It was lucky I arrived back when I did because the fire could have spread to the other apartments.Our apartment was completely smoked out, we weren't able to stay in it."

Sandelin felt the best way to forget about his ordeal was to compete in Girona. "When I'm on the golf course I'm completely occupied with trying to play golf," he said.

Meanwhile, Thomas Levet of France shrugged off a stiff back to grab a two-shot lead after the Spanish Open second round.

Levet's five-under-par 67 earned a 13-under total of 131, two ahead of overnight leader Soren Hansen of Denmark.