PGA SENIORS CHAMPIONSHIP

SAM TORRANCE MOVES TWO SHOTS CLEAR

AFTER LEADER JOHN CHILLAS FALTERS

Defending champion Sam Torrance showed all the class that made him the 2005 European Seniors Tour’s No. 1 player by moving into a two-stroke lead at the PGA Seniors Championship at The Stoke By Nayland Golf Club.

The former Ryder Cup Captain added a six-under-par 66 to his opening 65 to move two strokes clear from Italy’s Giuseppe Cali, with Ireland’s Eamonn Darcy and Scotland’s Bill Longmuir a further shot back in third place on ten under par.

First round leader John Chillas from Aberdeen slipped up with a two over 74.

Torrance was in irresistible form, dropping only one stroke, and cruising home with a back nine of 31 which included five birdies in six holes from the 12^th.

“I didn’t hole much on the front nine”, he said, “but I kept it together well. And I didn’t let the 18^th get me the way it did yesterday – but it nearly did!”

Torrance had bogeyed the difficult final home in an otherwise flawless first round, but he extinguished that memory by holing an excellent par putt from eight feet at the end of his second round, and thus cemented his two-stroke advantage going into the final 36 holes.

Cali, who already has one tournament win in England to his name this year following his victory at the Bendinat London Seniors Masters, matched Torrance’s second round 66 with a brilliant six iron to nine feet at the 18^th, which he finished off in style to end the day with a birdie 2.

Longmuir, who won this event in 2003 and partnered Torrance for the opening two rounds, was also in inspired form, carding six birdies before his only bogey of the day on the 18^th.

Darcy, meanwhile, hauled his way up the leaderboard with the best round of the day, a as seven under par 65 to join Longmuir in third place.

“Yesterday I let it slip on the back nine”, said the former Ryder Cup hero. “Today I tried to let it slip on the back nine but just managed to hang on.”

Chillas’s overnight lead frittered away, largely at the 10^th, the par-4 signature hole where the players have to hit twice over the same lake. The Scot put his second shot into the water, and his next spun back off the green down a slope, and he finished marking up a double bogey 6.

SCOREBOARD AFTER 36 HOLES
1 TORRANCE, Sam SCO -13 65 66 131
2 CALI, Giuseppe ITA -11 67 66 133
3 DARCY, Eamonn IRE -10 69 65 134
3 LONGMUIR, Bill SCO -10 67 67 134
5 JOB, Nick ENG -9 67 68 135
5 JOHNSON, Doug USA -9 70 65 135
7 JOHNSTONE, Tony ZIM -8 67 69 136
8 BLAND, John SAF -7 69 68 137
11 CHILLAS, John SCO -6 64 74 138
24 HARVEY, Garry SCO -2 70 72 142
24 MARTIN, Steve SCO -2 68 74 142
46 GRAY, Martin SCO Par 74 70 144

48 MILLER, Mike SCO +1 74 71 145

36-HOLE CUT AT 147

71 MALTMAN, Craig SCO +4 76 72 148
71 McDONALD, Ron SCO +4 73 75 148
81 WEBSTER, Robert SCO +5 78 71 149

87 STEVELY, Ken SCO +6 75 75 150

95 CHILLAS, David SCO +7 79 72 151