Westwood and Noren head field at halfway

9/27/2008

Lee Westwood and Alexander Noren share the lead at The Quinn Insurance British Masters after the second round was finally completed after further fog delays at The Belfry.

Westwood – aiming to defend his title – hit a two under par 70 which took him to six under for the tournament yesterday.

A remarkable Friday at The Belfry, when almost the entire field came out in pink to support two charities - Breast Cancer Campaign and Breakthrough Breast Cancer – saw a record equalling three holes in one.

England’s Phillip Archer set the trend when aced the seventh before Spain’s Alvaro Quiros followed him in on the 12th and finally Jeev Milkha Singh aced the seventh as well. It was the first time since the 2006 TCL Classic that three holes on one had been recorded in the same round.

Singh’s ace, sitting nicely alongside three birdies, lifted the Indian alongside Westwood on six under. But when he resumed his round this morning he slipped back to four under.

Noren returned and birdied the 445 yard sixth, his 15th, to join Westwood at the top.

With over three hours lost to fog at the start of Friday's play the 72 players still to complete were back on the Midlands course at 7.45am this morning.

Leaderboard – Round 2:

1. Lee Westwood                       ENG  68 70 138 - 6
    Alexander Noren                   SWE  72 66 138 - 6
3. Marc Warren                         SCO  68 71 139 - 5
    Alejandro Caňizares               ESP  71 68 139 - 5
    Thongchai Jaidee                  THA  71 68 139 - 5
    Ross Fisher                           ENG  71 68 139 - 5
7. Paul Lawrie                           SCO  69 71 140 - 4
    Sam Walker                          ENG  68 72 140 - 4
    Jeev Milkha Singh                  IND  69 71 140 - 4
    Marcus Fraser                        AUS  67 73 140 - 4

Source: European Tour