Ireland’s Shane Lowry birdied his closing two holes to join Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn sharing the lead after two rounds of the BMW PGA Championship.
Lowry came from two shots behind Bjorn at the start of the round to shoot a two under par 70 to tie Bjorn on 10-under par and with the 43-year old Bjorn managing a level par 72 on a day of intermittent showers.
Lowry and Bjorn are four shots clear of Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello (73) and former BMW PGA winner Luke Donald (67) tied in third place on six under par.
Shane Lowry the focus of attention after moving to a share of the lead on day of the BMW PGA (Photo – Fran Caffrey www.golffile.ie)
The 27-year old Lowry burst onto the world stage in spectacular manner capturing the 2009 Irish Open in a play-off and because of his amateur status being forced to turn down a Euro 500,000 first prize cheque.
However the Dubliner struggled in turning professional a fortnight later competing in just under 100 European events without a top-10 before becoming only the second player to win both as an amateur and a professional when Lowry captured the 2012 Portugal Masters.
Now the current World No.142 is on the verge of collecting the $US 1.06m first prize cheque and a five-year European Tour exemption.
“I just have to go out and keep doing what I have been doing,” he said.
“I’ve got my coach with me this week, so he’s quite good at getting me ready to play no matter what situation I’m in.
“And it will be good to go out with Thomas tomorrow and see how I get on.”
Bjorn went into the second round of the Tour’s flagship event leading by two strokes but found that advantage gone with bogeys at the first and seventh holes.
However while Lowry drew level with a seventh hole birdie the Dane found himself again two in front when Lowry doubled the ninth hole.
Bjorn then birdied his 15th and final holes minutes before Lowry birdied 17 and the last to finish sharing the lead with Bjorn.
“It’s nice and it’s where you want to be,” said Bjorn.
“We’ll go out and work hard on the weekend and see what the conditions are like and try and play the golf course and not the opponents.
“There’s two very hard days ahead of us, so we know what this championship is all about.
“You’ve got to get out there and you’ve got to play this golf course. You can’t play all the other guys in the field, you have to play the golf course and stay focused on that.”
However in contrast to Lowry, Bjorn has won 21 tournaments around the globe in his 21-year pro career including four since turning 40.
And the now 43-year old is desperate also to end a 12-year absence and qualify automatically for this year’s European Ryder Cup team.
Four players – the Swedish duo of Henrik Stenson (71) and Jonas Blixt (71) along with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (71) and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti (72) – are tied in fifth place on five under par.
However defending champion Matteo Manassero missed the halfway with scores of 80 and 71 for a seven over par total.
