Vintage Westwood as a 65 puts  him in the KLM Open picture EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS Lee Westwood carded a seemingly effortless 65 to move within striking distance of the lead at the KLM Open today. The Englishman looked close to his best as he produced a vintage display of the imperious ball-striking which once made him the world’s best player to move to seven under par and three strokes behind clubhouse leader Joel Stalter, who added a 67 to his opening 64 at The Dutch. Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat lies second in nine under after matching Westwood’s second round 65, with Germany’s Sebastien Heisele a shot further back. The quality of Westwood’s performance was confirmed by his playing partner Ross Fisher, who called Westwood’s second round “one of the easiest 65s I have seen in a long, long time.” Westwood concurred with that view and is certainly looking forward to trying to close out a 24th European Tour career victory in this, his 501st appearance on the circuit. The second round of the weather-affected KLM Open will be completed on Saturday morning, with half the field to complete their second round scores. Player quotes Lee Westwood: “The first round was just kind of steady. I didn’t really hit it close enough so I didn’t have that many real chances for birdie and then the second round was a lot better. I did hit it close, made a few good putts and I also burned the hole a lot. That 65 for the second round could easily have been 61.  “I am hitting the ball well. I have got my distance control back and the strike is getting better and better. I’m driving the ball in the fairway too which you obviously need to do and I feel like I am rolling the ball well on the greens so hopefully we can see a few more putts drop over the weekend. “If I can play like I did in the second round today then I’ll have a chance over the weekend so the plan will be to try and replicate what I did out there today. Ross (Fisher) just said to me in the scorers hut that my round was one of the easiest 65s he has seen in a long time which is a nice compliment and one that I’ll try and take into the weekend.”

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS