AUSTRALIAN SENIOR OPEN

    Sandy Lyle in Royal Perth mix with 68 but   

 Peter Senior is three shots ahead

It seems only the predicted thunderstorms might be able to stop Peter Senior from winning the 2010 Handa Australian Senior Open at Royal Perth Golf Club tomorrow.

Senior has added a two-under-par 70 to his first round 65 to be on nine-under-par 135 with one round to play, three strokes clear of Peter Fowler and six ahead of a surging European pack including dual major championship winner Sandy Lyle (pictured).

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FROM THE PGA OF AUSTRALIA WEBSITE

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The lead could have been larger had it not been for Senior's two rare bogeys late in today's second round which will give hope to a suddenly hot chasing pack when it had once appeared gone.

But after the ultra-consistent Senior birdied Royal Perth's short par-five ninth, even he thought that lead could have become unsurmountable.

"I played pretty good and had a lot of opportunities through the middle of the round," the Queenslander said.

"I thought if I could pick up a couple (of birdies) around 10-13, I might spreadeagle the field and have a little bit of a coast tomorrow, but then a three-putt on 15 and a bogey from nowhere on 16 and it's still a contest."

Senior and Fowler have played many big tournaments together and Senior is convinced it would take something spectacular for one of them not to hold on today.

"Three shots is absolutely nothing. The guys at three under are really going to have to shoot a good score to get in front of myself and `Chooky' because I'm pretty sure that one of us will go ahead."

Senior led by four shots heading into the final round of the Open last year at the same venue and was eventually beaten in a play-off.

"It's there for me to win and there for me to lose ... but I don't want to let them in again."

Fowler, still battling for tournament fitness after recuperating from a series of injuries, reached eight under at one stage, but four bogeys in an erratic seven-hole stretch cost him dearly.

Lyle, who has battled inconsistency in his three years on the Champions Tour, still suffered through two bogeys and a double-bogey.

But he also threw in six birdies and a stunning eagle on his way to a four-under-par 68 that vaulted him to three-under overall.

As a measure of just how far Lyle still hits the ball, playing partner Ian Baker-Finch crushed two three-woods to the front edge of the 470m par-5 third.

But the burly Scot nailed a driver and a seven-iron to 5m before draining his putt and giving a "Tiger pump" in celebration.

"I hit a real good solid drive, then from 190 yards with a seven-iron to about 15 feet and a good solid putt right in the middle of the hole -- it doesn't get any better than that," he said.

"But then I come out to bat on the next hole and made a bogey.

"I've generally been wasting four or five shots a round -- a double-bogey here, a three-putt there and nearly five bogeys every round I play and I’m still going around in 73 or so ... I just can't seem to get it all together, as they say.

"Still, I'm happy to be going in the right direction again."

Colourful Frenchman Marc Farry, a dual winner on the European Tour this year, made only one bogey on his way to a solid 69 to be joint third on three-under, alongside Lyle and Englishmen Gary Wolstenhome and D J Russell, who closed with a superb eagle on 18.

Ian Baker-Finch played a solid round of 71 which included a penalty for an unplayable lie when his drive remained lodged in a tree on the par-five 18th.

After identifying it and finally dislodging it, the affable Queenslander scrambled a 6 on the only hole on which he used his driver.

He then couldn't get up and down for par on the long par-three second, but after that showed flashes of brilliance with the putter for three birdies and several big par saves.

"That drive up 18 was the only poor shot really ... I thought I could shoot better than par all three days, but (in round one) I wasted six shots with bad drives because I missed most of the fairways after watching Pete Senior and thinking I'd have to chase hard to catch him," he said.

"Today I just used three-wood and it was much easier playing off the fairways."
Edinburgh-based Andrew Oldcorn was a second Scot in the leading 10. He had a 69 for 142. Anglo-Scot Bill Longmuir is on 145 after a 71 but Sam Torrance is away down the leaderboard on 149 after rounds of 73 and 76.

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
135 Peter Senior 65 70.
138 Peter Fowler 67 71.
141 David Russell 72 69, Gary Wolstenholme 73 68, Marc Farry (France) 72 69, Sandy Lyle 73 68.
142 Craig Owen 71 71, Andrew Oldcorn 73 69, Jim Lapsley 72 70, Michael Harwood 71 71, Rodger Davis 74 68.
143 Chris Williams 71 71.
144 Larry Can ning 754 69, Michael Clayton 71 73, David Armstrong 71 73, Hugh Dolan 71 73, Kevin Spurgeon 71 73, John Harrison 73 71, Peter Criss 70 74, Mike Ferguson 73 71, Gregory Engall 76 68
145 John Serhan 75 70, Ian Woosnam 72 73, Bill Longmuir 74 71, Garth Domigan 74 71, David Saunders 73 72.
146 David Merriman 72 75, Ian Baker-Finch 75 71.
148 Simon Owen 75 73, Glenn Ralph 74 74, Greg Carroll 77 71, John Downs 74 74, Mark Wilson 76 72.
149 Sam Torrance 73 76, Roger Stephens 78 71.
Selected scores:

151 Nick Job 77 74.
152 Wayne Grady 79 73.