Senior Putts to Australian Open Lead

Australian Peter Senior took a three-stroke second-round lead over Nick Faldo of Britian and Jeff Woodland of Australia with his second 66 in the $400,000 Australian Open golf tournament today.

Senior, who has improved his touch on the greens by switching to a long-handled putter, has played 36 holes without a bogey.

“I’m not going to jump up and down just yet,” Senior said. “There are a lot of good players on the leader board. I’ve tended to rush things before, so I’m going to take my time and think about my game over the next two days.”

First-round leader Curtis Strange and Mark Calcavecchia are four shots behind Senior at 136. Strange, the U.S. Open champion, followed his course record tying first round of 65 on the 6,847-yard, par-72 Kingston Heath course with an inconsistent round of 71 that included seven birdies and six bogeys.

“I don’t know what to say,” Strange said of the round that began with four consecutive bogeys and then four straight birdies. “I can’t remember playing a round like that. I made a number of birdies, but I never felt in control of my game. I was never comfortable, but I kept fighting.”

Calcavecchia, the British Open champion and defending Australian Open champion, added a 69 to his first round of 67.

“If I can keep shooting scores in the 60s, I’ll be there at the end,” Calcavecchia said. “I’m kind of hanging around and I’m playing well, so I’m in good shape. I’m putting well, which takes a lot of pressure off the rest of my game. The greens are fast, but I like them that way. The faster the better.”

Faldo shot a 67 in the second round to tie Woodland, who had a 69.

“It’s quite tricky judging the wind direction and the strength of it, but I made some good guesses,” Faldo said.

Australian Greg Norman, seeking his fourth Australian Open title, followed his opening round of even-par 72 with a 70 and is 10 shots off the pace.

“I had a chance to get into contention and I let it slide on 16 and 17, and that’s basically it,” Norman said. “I played a lot better than I did yesterday, but if you’re going to be in contention, you’ve got to make a lot of putts, and I missed a lot of makeable putts.”

Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie equaled the course record of 65 held by Gary Player, Ronan Rafferty and Strange to move into contention at 137.

Australian Chris Gray had a hole in one on the par-3 10th but was unable to claim a $32,000 automobile because of his amateur status.