Funk leads by three from Torrance at

halfway in Seniors Open at Sunningdale

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Fred Funk set a record low halfway total at The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard but Sunningdale expert Sam Torrance is hot on his heels going into the weekend.
Both men carded sublime rounds of 65 to leave 53 year old American Funk 11 under, with Scotland’s Torrance three behind.
Funk recorded an eagle 2 at the par 4 18th after he holed out with a 174yd eight iron to reach 11 under after 36 holes, one better than anyone has managed at a Senior Open Championship before.
That capped a flawless round as the former US Ryder Cup player shot three birdies without dropping a stroke for the second day running.
“I don't feel like I shot 65,” said Funk. “It's just the way it all added up at the end.
“When you do what I did at the finish and then all of a sudden you're five under par, you go, wow, where did that come from?
“It wasn't like I walked off thinking I shot this great round, although it was a round I would have loved to have before I teed off, that's for sure.
“I birdied 16 and holed a shot on 18 and all of a sudden it looks like a great round that I played,” added Funk – who reached halfway with an impressive 129 aggregate for the second time in three tournaments, although at The Dick’s Sporting Goods Open last month he could only go on to tie for second.
“There's a lot of golf to be played, but yeah, I'm playing well. If I keep doing what I'm doing and especially putt as well as I've been putting, I will be hard to catch.”
Torrance, who lives in nearby Virginia Water and knows Sunningdale’s Old Course “like the back of my hand”, birdied the first and fourth after Funk had already set the clubhouse target at 11 under before a 2hr delay for a thunder storm.
After a gutsy par putt at the seventh Torrance looked in trouble at the eighth when his tee shot found the large greenside bunker but he splashed out to six feet and again held his nerve.
“I would have been miles behind if I’d bogeyed them both,” he said. “You can’t look at it that way.”
That sparked a spectacular run of birdie-birdie-par-birdie after the turn which propelled the former Ryder Cup captain into second place, although a shanked approach to the 16th cost him a shot.
That was put right with a birdie at the 17th and after finding trouble at the last Torrance got up and down for par.
“It’s not pay day, there’s still two more days to go,” Torrance added.
“I know the greens better than anyone, I had good speed with the putter today.”
America’s Loren Roberts, the 2006 winner of this event at Turnberry, sits third after a 68 took him to six under, one better than his compatriots Mike Allen and Tom Kite.
SECOND ROUND LEADERS
Par 140 (2x70)
+The second round play was suspended due inclement weather for the day and will resume at 7:40hrs Saturday
129 Fred Funk 64 65
132 Sam Torrance (Sco) 67 65
134 Loren Roberts 66 68
135 Michael Allen 70 65, Tom Kite 67 68
136 Gordon J Brand (Eng) 68 68, Denis Watson (Zim) 68 68, Tom Watson 67 69, Mark McNulty (Irl) 69 67, Greg Norman (Aus) 67 69, Don Pooley 70 66
137 Ian Woosnam (Wal) 68 69, Scott Simpson 68 69, Jay Haas 66 71
138 Sandy Lyle (Sco) 68 70
139 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72 67, Russ Cochran 69 70, Tony Johnstone (Zim) 68 71, Jeff Sluman 69 70, Mark James (Eng) 70 69, Morris Hatalsky 72 67, Bruce Vaughan 70 69, Mark O'Meara 69 70, Denis O'Sullivan (Irl) 68 71, Mark Wiebe 71 68, Gordon Brand Jnr (Sco) 68 71, Larry Mize 69 70
140 Philip Blackmar 68 72, Bertus Smit (Rsa) 69 71, Sir Nick Faldo (Eng) 70 70, Des Smyth (Irl) 66 74, Philippe Dugeny (Fra) 71 69, Gary Koch 70 70, Paul Simson 71 69
141 Joey Sindelar 69 72, Gene Jones 74 67, Joe Ozaki (Jpn) 71 70, Mike Donald 71 70, Jerry Bruner 67 74, Angel Fernandez (Chi) 70 71, Olin Browne 68 73, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 70 71
142 Andy Bean 70 72, Fulton Allem (Rsa) 70 72, Kevin Spurgeon (Eng) 72 70, Mike Goodes 71 71, Christopher Williams (Rsa) 66 76, Wayne Grady (Aus) 70 72, Bob Gilder 72 70
143 Kirk Hanefeld 72 71, Juan Quiros (Spa) 72 71, Luis Carbonetti (Arg) 73 70, Craig Stadler 74 69, Mike Reid 72 71, Ben Crenshaw 73 70, Tom Lehman 70 73, Noel Ratcliffe (Aus) 71 72, Lonnie Nielsen 72 71, John Morse 72 71, Stewart Ginn (Aus) 71 72, Glenn Ralph (Eng) 70 73, Curt Byrum 68 75, Bobby Wadkins 73 70
144 Robert L Thompson 70 74, Giuseppe Cali (Ita) 71 73, Delroy Cambridge (Jam) 71 73, Tom Purtzer 73 71, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 74 70, Bobby Lincoln (Rsa) 72 72
145 Eamonn Darcy (Irl) 73 72, Tim Planchin (Fra) 74 71, Peter Mitchell (Eng) 72 73, David J Russell (Eng) 70 75, John Cook 72 73, Tony Allen (Eng) 71 74, Bob Larratt (Eng) 72 73, Bob Charles (Nzl) 70 75, Yoshi Mizumaki (Jpn) 72 73, Angel Franco (Par) 73 72, Peter Fowler (Aus) 71 74, David Merriman (Aus) 70 75
146 Katsuyoshi Tomori (Jpn) 71 75, Ross Drummond (Sco) 71 75, Jim Rhodes (Eng) 74 72, Chris Starkjohann 71 75
148 Mark Balen 72 76, Simon Owen (Aus) 72 76, Brady Exber 75 73, John Chillas (Sco) 77 71, Tony Charnley (Eng) 72 76, Peter Dahlberg (Swe) 72 76, Bill Longmuir (Sco) 74 74
149 Denis Durnian (Gbr) 74 75, Simon Wood (Eng) 74 75, Domingo Hospital (Spa) 76 73, Alastair Webster (Sco) 75 74, Jay Don Blake 72 77, John Bland (Rsa) 74 75, Isao Aoki (Jpn) 78 71
150 Carl Baker 75 75, Nick Job (Eng) 72 78, Graham Gunn (Can) 75 75, Terry Gale (Aus) 78 72, Frank Kiddie (Eng) 76 74, Mike Harwood (Aus) 74 76
151 Christy O'Connor Jnr (Irl) 71 80, Bob Boyd 76 75, Torsten Giedeon (Ger) 73 78, Pete Oakley 71 80
152 Wes Burton 72 80, Jimmy Heggarty (NIrl) 77 75, Jose Maria Canizares (Spa) 73 79, Shinji Ikeuchi (Jpn) 75 77, Jerry Pate 75 77
153 Gary Player (Rsa) 79 74, Ikuo Shirahama (Jpn) 71 82
155 Richard Masters (Eng) 77 78
156 Antonio Garrido (Spa) 80 76, Niall Lavin (Irl) 76 80, Ralph McLean (Sco) 79 77
158 James Mason 74 84, Jeff Hawkes (Rsa) 77 81, John C Davies (Eng) 76 82
162 Joel S Hirsch 78 84