European Senior Tour report and scores

Longmuir leads by four with a round to go

By STEVE TODD
European Senior Tour Press Officer
Anglo-Scot Bill Longmuir will take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the Handa Senior Masters presented by The Stapleford Forum as he tries to deny John Harrison and Boonchu Ruangkit a place in the record books.
Longmuir started the day with a four stroke advantage over the field following a stunning opening round nine under par 64 – his lowest to par on the European Senior Tour – and maintained that advantage with a 69 to move to 13 under par for the tournament at Stapleford Park Golf Club, Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.
Harrison and Ruangkit each carded rounds of 67 to share second place on nine under par and both will have their sights on re-writing the record books in the final round, with Harrison bidding to become the youngest Senior Tour winner and Ruangkit targeting his fourth straight Senior Tour victory.
However, it is Longmuir who is firmly in pole position to capture his eighth Senior Tour title and first victory since the DGM Barbados Open in 2008, despite having started the week with no semblance of form, with his best finish in four appearances in 2010 so far tied 17th in Brunei. The Scot posted four birdies in the opening five holes of his second round at Stapleford Park and picked up further shots on the eighth and tenth holes before blotting his scorecard with a double bogey 7 on the long 11th – a hole he eagled in his first round.
He regained one of those shots with a birdie on the 15th and although he then surrendered it again with a bogey on the 17th, Longmuir insisted he was delighted with his day’s work.
“I’m pleased with my performance even though I had a bit of trouble with my swing,” he said. “My son Callum, who’s caddying for me, said I was swinging a bit fast, so I tried to change that but ended up changing the wrong bit before I corrected it. I did hit out of bounds on the 11th so I didn’t do as well as I could but I also still hit a few birdies today. I am feeling confident, largely due to the work of my good friend Michael Wolseley (the ex-European Tour professional) in the United States, who has done a lot for my game.
“I’m confident in my own game for tomorrow but you can never tell what someone else will shoot.”
Runaway Order of Merit leader Ruangkit, of Thailand, posted an eagle and five birdies in his round as he continued the remarkable form he has shown in 2010 in winning the past three events in Brunei, Thailand and South Africa.
“I came to Europe not expecting to get my fourth win in a row - I came here to get more experience of the weather and the greens,” he said. “I’m still a way behind the leader so I’m not sure how tomorrow will go but I’m getting more used to the greens, even though they are not as fast as the Far East.
“I’m the only senior from Thailand here, but next year I hope there will be more. I want to show players at home that they can come to Europe and do well.”
Debutant Harrison, who came of Senior Tour age on May 6, could become the youngest winner on the Senior Tour at 50 years and eight days tomorrow – eclipsing by one day the record set by John Bland when the South African won the London Masters in 1995.
The Matfen Hall professional, winner of the Senior Tour Qualifying School last November, posted an eagle on the 11th hole in addition to six birdies and two bogeys to sign for a six under par round.
“I was only looking for a steady tournament this week but I’m really happy to be up there and I got more confident as the round went on,” he said.“Yesterday I didn’t play fantastically but I was pleased with three under. I played better today and I am in some sort of contention which is great.
“I’m confident of holding a good position tomorrow. If you make a few birdies early on and get off to a quick start on this course you will be in a good position. Personally if I’m up there in that top six I would be really pleased for my first event.”
Leading Senior Tour money winner Carl Mason, who could also make history by matching Tommy Horton’s record of 23 Senior Tour titles, and Ireland’s Des Smyth are a further shot back on eight under par.
Another debutant, former PGA Championship winner Andrew Oldcorn from Edinburgh, signed for a four under par 69 to move to three under par.
After starting with a bogey on the first hole, Sam Torrance posted three birdies for a 71 to finish level par for the tournament, while fellow former Ryder Cup Captain Ian Woosnam recovered from dropping four shots in three holes to shoot a level par 73 and lies one shot further back on one over par.

SECOND ROUND TOTALS
Par 146 (2x73)
1 LONGMUIR, Bill SCO 64 69 - - 133
T2 HARRISON, John ENG 70 67 - - 137
T2 RUANGKIT, Boonchu THA 70 67 - - 137
T4 SMYTH, Des IRL 70 68 - - 138
T4 MASON, Carl ENG 68 70 - - 138
T6 FARRY, Marc FRA 70 69 - - 139
T6 DRUMMOND, Ross SCO 68 71 - - 139
T6 CHAPMAN, Roger ENG 68 71 - - 139
T9 RALPH, Glenn ENG 73 67 - - 140
T9 WILLISON, Ricky ENG 72 68 - - 140
T9 HOSPITAL, Domingo ESP 71 69 - - 140
T9 BOYD, Bob USA 70 70 - - 140
13 WILLIAMS, Chris RSA 71 70 - - 141
T14 QUIROS, Juan ESP 175 67 - - 142
T14 GOULD, John ENG 69 - - 142
T14 GIEDEON, Torsten GER 72 70 - - 142
T14 TOMORI, Katsuyoshi JPN 69 73 - - 142
T18 BRUNER, Jerry USA 75 68 - - 143
T18 OLDCORN, Andrew SCO 74 69 - - 143
T20 CALI, Giuseppe ITA 73 71 - - 144
T20 JOHNSTONE, Tony ZIM 72 72 - - 144
T20 JOB, Nick ENG 72 72 - - 144
T20 MITCHELL, Peter ENG 71 73 - - 144
T24 JOHNSON, Doug USA 75 70 - - 145
T24 WILLIAMS, Mike ZIM 75 70 - - 145
T24 RATCLIFFE, Noel AUS 75 70 - - 145
T24 BENNETT, Stephen ENG 74 71 - - 145
T24 SOWA, Adan ARG 73 72 - - 145
T24 ROCCA, Costantino ITA 72 73 - - 145
T24 RUSSELL, David J ENG 72 73 - - 145
T24 CAMBRIDGE, Delroy JAM 71 74 - - 145
T32 CIPA, Steve ENG 75 71 - - 146
T32 TORRANCE, Sam SCO 75 71 - - 146
T32 RODRIGUEZ, Emilio ESP 75 71 - - 146
T32 CARBONETTI, Luis ARG 75 71 - - 146
T32 FRANCO, Angel PAR 73 73 - - 146
T32 BRAND, Gordon J ENG 75 - - 146
T32 MERRIMAN, David AUS 68 78 - - 146
T39 HALL, Jeff ENG 76 71 - - 147
T39 WOOSNAM, Ian WAL 74 73 - - 147
T39 CAMERON, Bob ENG 74 73 - - 147
T39 CARBONETTI, Horacio ARG 73 74 - - 147
T39 BELSHAM, Mark ENG 73 74 - - 147
T39 RAMAYAH, Marimuthu MAS 72 75 - - 147
T39 GRADY, Wayne AUS 71 76 - - 147
T46 SMIT, Bertus RSA 77 71 - - 148
T46 BANISTER, Graham AUS 77 71 - - 148
T46 STEVENS, Barrie ENG 76 72 - - 148
T46 HARWOOD, Mike AUS 76 72 - - 148
T46 MANN, Fraser SCO 74 74 - - 148
T46 CUNNING, Mike USA 70 78 - - 148
T52 BRIGGS, Matt ENG 18 +3 77 72 - - 149
T52 RHODES, Jim ENG 18 +3 75 74 - - 149
T52 STEWART, Robbie RSA 18 +3 74 75 - - 149
T52 DURNIAN, Denis ENG 18 +3 71 78 - - 149
T56 GRAY, Martin SCO 18 +4 78 72 - - 150
T56 LINCOLN, Bobby RSA 18 +4 77 73 - - 150
T56 JOHNSSON , Anders SWE 18 +4 77 73 - - 150
T56 CHARNLEY, Tony ENG 18 +4 75 75 - - 150
T56 PIÑERO, Manuel ESP 18 +4 74 76 - - 150
T56 FERNANDEZ, Angel CHI 18 +4 74 76 - - 150
T62 SPURGEON, Kevin ENG 18 +5 80 71 - - 151
T62 OAKLEY, Pete USA 18 +5 77 74 - - 151
T62 HARDWICK, Bill CAN 18 +5 77 74 - - 151
T62 O'SULLIVAN, Denis IRL 18 +5 76 75 - - 151
T62 POXON, Martin ENG 18 +5 73 78 - - 151
67 WATINE, Gery FRA 18 +7 77 76 - - 153
T68 HEGGARTY, Jimmy NIR 18 +8 80 74 - - 154
T68 POLLAND, Eddie NIR 18 +8 78 76 - - 154
T68 BRAND junior, Gordon SCO 18 +8 77 77 - - 154
T68 MILLER, Mike SCO 18 +8 76 78 - - 154
T68 O'CONNOR junior, Christy IRL 18 +8 76 78 - - 154
T68 CHILLAS, John SCO 18 +8 75 79 - - 154
T74 GARRIDO, Antonio ESP 18 +9 79 76 - - 155
T74 BEMBRIDGE, Maurice ENG 18 +9 76 79 - - 155
76 RIVERO, José ESP 18 +10 80 76 - - 156
77 HIGGINS, Liam IRL 18 +13 84 75 - - 159
78 MOSEY, Ian ENG 18 +14 80 80 - - 160
79 HOPKINS, Greg USA 18 +17 83 80 - - 163
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