SEVE BALLESTEROS made a public apology to local golf fans after plunging to a second round 79 and a 13 over par halfway total of 157 in the Moroccan Open at Royal Dares Salarn yesterday.
The Spaniard finished a staggering 22 strokes behind Swedish pacemaker Peter Hedblom, who birdied five of the last six holes to add a 67 to his opening 68. His nearest challengers are Welshman Phillip Price and Germany's Alex Cejka, with Padraig Harrington and John McHenry sharing fifth place at one under par.
Only 14 players broke par after a second day of stop start golf amid thundery showers. Ballesteros, already facing a difficult task after ending his five month lay off with an opening 78, took 43 to the turn to ensure he would be surplus to requirements at the weekend.
He came home in par to avoid the indignity of taking 80 and declared: "This is the second time I have played badly here and I apologise to Moroccan golf fans for my poor golf. It is nothing to do with the course. I hit the ball on the toe and heel, then the bottom and the top of the club, everywhere but in the middle."
Padraig Harrington had problems of a different sort. He was among those caught in one of the fiercest squalls which arrived just after he birdied the long eighth, his 17th. Play was suspended because of the deluge and Harrington was forced to wait 20 minutes on the ninth tee. "When I arrived there it was a three iron shot over the lake into a strong wind," he said. "When the storm passed it was a five iron. I spent the delay thinking about how many shots I could hit into the water and still make the cut."
However, no such disaster befell Harrington who safely found the heart of the green and took two pulls for the par three that got him home in 33 for a 71 and 143. That looked an unlikely mark when he overshot the 16th and duffed a return chip for a double bogey. He then let another shot slip by failing to hit the short 17th. But he almost sank his four iron shot at the second, and, added birdie fours at the fifth and eighth. It is the third week in succession Harrington has reached the closing stages.
McHenry also recovered from an indifferent start for a 73 and could well have caught Cejka or Spaniard Santiago Luna had his close range putting been more assured. He twice missed from a yard before getting down from 10 feet at the 13th and 12 feet at the 18th for the birdies.
Darren Clarke's power saved him from a crisis around the turn. He hit a poor shot to the island green at the ninth and found the water to incur a double bogey, and with two par fours measuring over 470 yards to follow, was in danger of an early departure. But he struck superb two iron approaches to both the 10th and 11th to within 10 feet and birdie fours at the 12th and 18th saw aim round in 73 for 145.
Milltown's Francis Howley had a 74 for 146 that took him past the cut ford the first time. He succeeded despite two sixes because he holed putts of 40 and 12 feet at the second and 14th for birdie twos. He then produced determined recoveries to salvage pars at the 16th and 17th. At the 16th he got down in two from 40 yards after driving into trees and at the 17th he chipped stiff after failing to hit, the green.
Philip Walton was the fifth Irish qualifier with 74 for 147 although he has lost confidence with his short irons. "I cannot hit a green with a seven iron," he lamented after scrambling to the turn in 39. But he twice holed from 20 feet for successive birdies on the inward stretch and is by no means out of the running for a high finish.
Christy O'Connor Jnr (73), Eamonn Darcy (76) and Des Smyth (78) all finished one stroke outside the cut off mark of five over par. David Higgins and Raymond Burns, who both had 74 also ended on 150, while Jimmy Heggarty had 77 for 151.
