Rookie Ramsay leads Celtic

Manor Wales Open by one

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
European Tour rookie Richie Ramsay from Aberdeen takes a one-shot lead into the third round of the Celtic Manor Wales Open - and hopes his experience of playing with some of the biggest names in golf will now pay dividends.
After becoming the first Scot in 108 years to win the US Amateur title three years ago, Ramsay partnered Phil Mickelson at The Masters, Tiger Woods at the US Open and Padraig Harrington in The Open.
The 25-year-old Ramsay, who also highlighted his amateur career with Walker Cup honours and victories in the Scottish and Irish stroke-play championships, missed the cut in all three pro majors, but after rounds of 68 and 67 so far this week he is seven under par on the course where next year's Ryder Cup will take place.
Having also partnered Sergio Garcia a week ago at the European Open Ramsay said: "They've all got great talent, but they can grind out a score when they are not playing so well.
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"Sometimes I can be a bit hard on myself, but I've learnt to take the positives of each round more now."
Ramsay did not drop a stroke over today's 18 holes and added: "Ball-striking it was up there with the best. I didn't miss a green and I missed three birdie putts inside six feet."
The two Englishmen right on his heels are both looking to improve on recent near-misses. Robert Rock lost a play-off for the Irish Open to amateur Shane Lowry, while Ross Fisher was pipped for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth by Paul Casey.
In an event disappointingly featuring only three of the world's top 50, Fisher is the highest-ranked player at 23rd and he showed his class with a 66.
Rock reached eight under, dropping four strokes in three holes, then finishing with two birdies like Fisher.
Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie is only three behind Ramsay after a second successive 69 - and, given that he has not had a top 10 finish for almost a year, that is a huge boost for a tournament so short on star names.
To get through to the weekend action, players had to total two-over-par 144 or better. On the wrong side of the cut were Scots Andrew Coltart (145), David Drysdale (146), Stephen Gallacher (146), Steven O'Hara (146), Peter Whiteford (146), Jason McCreadie (147) and Marc Warren (150).
Irish Open champion Shane Lowry missed the cut for the second time in two starts as a professional. He was eight shots above the required maximum of 144. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for the +5 Irish amateur to turn pro immediately. The Englishman he beat in the Irish Open play-off, Robert Rock covered the 36 holes so far at Celtic Manor in 16 strokes fewer than Lowry.

SECOND-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 142 (2x71)
135 Richie Ramsay 68 67.
136 Robert Rock 68 68, Ross Fisher 70 66
137 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 68, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 69 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 69, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 67
138 Colin Montgomerie 69 69, Nick Dougherty 66 72, Mark Foster 69 69
139 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 69, Alan McLean 66 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 67, John Bickerton 69 70, Simon Dyson 74 65, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 69, Gary Lockerbie 69 70, Callum Macaulay 68 71, Stephen Dodd 72 67, Richard Finch 71 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 66 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 68, Richard Green (Aus) 68 71, Paul McGinley 68 71
140 Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 69 71, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 73 67, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 67 73
141 Chris Wood 72 69, Gary Orr 68 73, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 69 72, Peter Lawrie 69 72, Oliver Fisher 72 69. Chris Doak 72 69.
142 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 71, Robert Dinwiddie 71 71, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 69 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 74 68, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 70 72, David Lynn 69 73, Simon Khan 69 73, Taco Remkes (Ned) 67 75, Santiago Luna (Spa) 73 69, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 73 69
143 Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 72 71, Michael Curtain (Aus) 71 72, Mark Brown (Nzl) 70 73
144 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 72 72, Jonathan Caldwell 72 72, Sion Bebb 75 69, Scott Strange (Aus) 72 72, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 76, Scott Drummond 74 70, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 74 70, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 75 69, Corey Pavin (USA) 72 72, Bradley Dredge 74 70, Andrew Oldcorn 76 68.
MISSED THE CUT
145 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 74 71, Richard Bland 73 72, Steve Webster 70 75, Andrew Coltart 72 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 75, Anthony Wall 75 70, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 73 72, Federico Colombo (Ita) 70 75, Phillip Archer 72 73, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 71 74, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 72
146 Peter Whiteford 69 77, Kyron Sullivan 72 74, David Drysdale 74 72, Stephen Gallacher 71 75, Steven O'Hara 71 75, Peter Whiteford 69 77.
147 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 71 76, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 77 70, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 75 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 74 73, Jason McCreadie 68 79, Phillip Price 76 71, Nick Ludwell 74 73.
148 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 76 72, Gary Murphy 72 76, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned) 73 75, Peter Senior (Aus) 72 76, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 75 73, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 77 71, Simon Wakefield 75 73
149 Zane Scotland 77 72, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 73 76, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 77 72
150 Wil Besseling (Ned) 73 77, John Mellor 76 74, Marc Warren 79 71, Jamie Donaldson 73 77, Peter Fowler (Aus) 80 70, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 74 76, Michael Hoey 73 77
151 Graeme Storm 76 75
152 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 72 80, Ake Nilsson (Rsa) 74 78, Shane Lowry 77 75, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 79
153 James Heath 75 78, Trevor Jones 76 77, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 74 79
Retired: 75 Anthony Kang (USA), 78 Barry Lane
Withdrew: 72 David Howell, 79 Paul Lawrie, 80 Anton Haig (Rsa), 82 Pablo Martin (Spa)