Wales Open:Retief Goosen and defending champion Robert Karlsson, the top two players in the Wales Open at Celtic Manor, went crashing out at the halfway yesterday.
Two weeks before he tries for a third US Open victory in seven years, Goosen, the only member of the world's top 25 taking part in the event, slumped to a second-round 73 on the par 69 lay-out.
It completes a miserable two weeks for the South African star before he heads across the Atlantic for the second major of the year. He also made an early exit from the BMW PGA Championship last Friday.
"It's disappointing, that's for sure," said Goosen. "I'm working on a few things, but they're not coming together yet.
"I'll hang around for a couple of days and do some practice, then I'm playing in Memphis next week, so I hope I can find something there. I struggled on the greens here - they were extremely slow."
Playing partner Karlsson, another who is Oakmont-bound, had a 69, but a two-over total, three better than Goosen, was still not good enough on the same course where he set European Tour records for 36 and 54 holes last June by opening 61, 63, 65.
Their departures left Colin Montgomerie as the highest-ranked player still standing in the tournament. But if you think he should have been happy after a 64 that was his lowest round for exactly a year, then think again.
The eight-time European number one moved up into the top 25 from 81st at the start of the day, yet he was positively disgusted not to be closer to surprise early leader Mads Vibe-Hastrup of Denmark, who shot a 63 to be on eight under, one clear of Scots Alastair Forsyth and Stephen O'Hara.
"I got my game back together and got half of it right, but the other half is terrible," said Montgomerie, who will be making his 64th attempt to win a major on the course where he lost a play-off to Ernie Els in 1994.
"My putting is the weakest part of anyone's game out here. That could have been anything."
As it was he improved from one over par to four under, which leaves him four strokes to make up on 28-year-old Vibe-Hastrup, who is trying to emulate compatriot Anders Hansen's success at Wentworth last weekend.
The big difference between the two is that Hansen had won the European Tour's flagship event before, whereas Vibe-Hastrup does not have even a top-three finish to show for 122 starts on the circuit.
Ranked a lowly 442nd in the world and 149th on this season's Order of Merit, the Challenge Tour graduate achieved a career-best 63 thanks in part to a spectacular eagle on the long 16th, where his three-wood approach rolled to within a foot of the flag.
That was the high point. The low point quickly followed when his bag fell over on the 17th fairway and "something happened" with the driver.
"I think one of the screws got loose," he said. "When I went to tee off on the last I could hear it rattling. I hit it any way."
Forsyth's only victory in more than 200 events came in Malaysia five years ago, while O'Hara is still seeking his first win six years after being a team-mate of Luke Donald and Nick Dougherty in the Walker Cup.
After an eagle and two birdies in the first four holes - straight after a 105-minute fog delay - Forsyth admits he thought of becoming the first player to score 59 on the circuit.
But the remaining 14 holes saw only two more birdies and two bogeys.
Gary Murphy had five birdies in a fine 65 that moved him to five under par and tied for 15th.
Remarkably, Simon Thornton, who had carded six bogeys in his opening nine holes on Thursday, stormed through the field yesterday with a five-under 64 - without a blemish - to leave him on the same mark as Murphy.
Peter Lawrie could manage only a level par 69 to remain at three under.
Damien McGrane also shot 69 to miss the cut by four strokes, while Graeme McDowell, who had scuppered his chances with an opening 74, improved to a 68.
