Three-Way Tie at BMW PGA After 36 Holes

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Thomas Pieters of Belgium, Italy’s Francesco Molinari, and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson are tied for the lead at the halfway point in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

 
The threesome is at 7-under, one shot ahead of Germany’s Max Kieffer, who shot a 4-under 68 to get to 6-under overall.

Pieters, who posted a top-5 at the Masters last month, carded a 3-under 69 with one bogey against four birdies.

First round co-leader, Jamieson, got off to an ugly start (bogey-par-double) but then ripped off seven birdies over the next nine holes (4 thru 12) to get to -8. A late bogey dropped him into a tie for the lead at 7-under.

Molinari, another round-one co-leader, also had a rough start with bogeys on 3 and 5, but steadied himself and finished strong with birdies on 17 and 18 to get to 7-under.

Five players, headlined by Lee Westwood (69) and Henrik Stenson (71), round out the top-5 at 5-under, just two shots back.


Top 5

T1 Thomas Pieters -7
T1 Francesco Molinari -7
T1 Scott Jamieson -7
4 Max Kieffer -6
T5 Lee Westwood -5
T5 Henrik Stenson -5
T5 Branden Grace -5
T5 Johan Carlsson -5
T5 Byeong Hun An -5


Rose Redux

Justin Rose flubs his bunker shot on the 5th, but then holes out the chip shot for par.


By The Numbers

137 – Low score of the week midway through the 2017 BMW PGA Championship, jointly shared by Thomas Pieters, Francesco Molinari and Scott Jamieson.

75 – Ernie Els has hit the joint-most Greens in Regulation through two days in Surrey, using his knowledge as co-course designer of the West Course.

41 – European Tour titles between the group tied on five under (Byeong Hun An, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson and Branden Grace).

12 – Francesco Molinari has more rounds under par than any other player over the last five years (12 out of 18).

5 – Max Kieffer has only missed a quintet of fairways so far this week. No one has hit more than his 23/28.

4 – 36-hole leads/co-leads for Pieters now, however the Belgian came from behind at the halfway stage in each of his previous three European Tour wins.

3 – 36-hole leads/co-leads, meanwhile, for Jamieson. The Scot won his only European Tour event (the 2012 Nelson Mandela) in weather-shortened 36-hole event.

4.31 – The average scores on holes number three and 15, the two hardest holes on the West Course on Friday.


Rant of the Day

Ian Poulter posted a 3-under-par 69 and made the cut after his opening-round 76. But Poulter was peeved in his presser and went on sort of a rant.

“It was absolutely shocking today. Not good enough. Unacceptable. I don’t know how many words to describe how poor I thought it was to be honest with you. It was pathetic, it really was.

The putting’s not good enough. My game’s in shape. I’ve hit 17 greens in regulation today on a tricky golf course. So I’m pleased about that.

And I’m pleased that I haven’t flown all the way across the pond to not be playing golf at the weekend, because I would be seriously pissed off if I was sitting at home this weekend. I mean, I would be not happy.

So job well done today but it’s not good enough. It’s just simply not good enough. Not from how I’ve been playing.

I had an old faithful putter in the bag to try to rekindle a bit of stuff, but I might snap it in half by the time I get back up to the clubhouse.

I don’t feel comfortable from 15 feet. Where I used to hole them in 2010 and 12 with infinite ease, they’re not going in like they used to.

Something’s not right. My eye line’s not right. I’m obviously doing something slightly different.

It’s just frustrating because I’m playing good enough golf. It’s not good enough not for the way I’ve been playing golf. I’ve been playing better than my results.

It’s just graft and hard work. It’s finding the feeling. When they go in sometimes you just forget to write down everything that was going through your mind when it was all going in, so then you start searching. You try all the little things you’ve always tried and I’m running out of ideas. What next?

It’s really frustrating because it’s a big tournament, home fans, I’m playing well and I want to be up that leaderboard.”


Quotables

The three leaders speak.

Leaderboard

POSPLAYERTO PARR1R2
T1Thomas Pieters-76869
T1Scott Jamieson-76770
T1Francesco Molinari-76770
4Maximilian Kieffer-67068
T5Byeong Hun An-57069
T5Lee Westwood-57069
T5Henrik Stenson-56871
T5Branden Grace-56871
T5Johan Carlsson-56673
T10Jaco Van Zyl-47169
T10Oliver Fisher-47070
T10Andrew Dodt-47070
T10Graeme Storm-46872
T14Bernd Wiesberger-37170
T14Andrew Johnston-37368
T14Nino Bertasio-36873
T14Tyrrell Hatton-36972
T14Ross Fisher-36873
T19Soren Kjeldsen-27171
T19Kiradech Aphibarnrat-26775
T19Shane Lowry-26874
T19Joost Luiten-27171
T23Benjamin Herbert-17172
T23Jordan Smith-17271
T23Peter Hanson-17073
T23Alex Noren-16875
T23Victor Dubuisson-17370
T23Richie Ramsay-16974
T23Luke Donald-17568
T23Peter Uihlein-17469
T31Matteo ManasseroE7371
T31Niclas FasthE7173
T31Ernie ElsE7173
T31Thongchai JaideeE7272
T31David HowellE7173
T31Bradley DredgeE6876
T37Pablo Larrazabal17174
T37Ian Poulter17669
T37Anthony Wall17372
T37Alexander Bjork17075
T37Florian Fritsch17075
T37Daniel Brooks17075
T37Hao-tong Li16976
T37Hideto Tanihara17669
T37Danny Willett17273
T37David Horsey17174
T37Dean Burmester16976
T37S.s.p Chawrasia17372
T37Gregory Bourdy17273
T37Jorge Campillo17273
T37Bernd Ritthammer17174
T52David Drysdale27571
T52Alexander Levy27175
T52Andrew Sullivan27175
T52Stephen Gallacher27373
T52Paul Peterson27472
T52Romain Wattel27373
T52Paul Dunne (a)27175
T52Chris Wood27274
T52Justin Rose27274
T52Matthew Fitzpatrick27373
T52Thomas Bjorn27571
T52Scott Hend27175
T52Nicolas Colsaerts27175
T52Mikko Ilonen27076
T52Sebastien Gros27175
T67Damien McGrane37473
T67Darren Fichardt37473
T67James Morrison37374
T67Rikard Karlberg37176
T67Raphael Jacquelin37275
T67Marc Warren37572
T67Lasse Jensen37374
T67Russell Knox37374
T67Paul Lawrie37275
T67Padraig Harrington37374
T67Marcus Fraser37176
T67Alvaro Quiros37473
T67Richard Sterne36978
T67Felipe Aguilar37473
T67David Lipsky37374
T82Robert Rock47573
T82Trevor Immelman47672
T82Wade Ormsby47474
T82Carlos Pigem47474
T82Jason Scrivener47573
T82Thorbjorn Olesen47870
T82Jamie Donaldson47375
T82Paul Waring47375
T82Eduardo De La Riva46979
T91Pelle Edberg57673
T91Martin Kaymer57673
T91Tommy Fleetwood57277
T91Romain Langasque (a)57673
T91George Coetzee57376
T91Nacho Elvira57574
T91Adrian Otaegui57376
T91Gary Stal57871
T91Jeunghun Wang57079
T91Chris Hanson57772
T101Justin Walters67674
T101Magnus Carlsson67773
T101Soomin Lee67377
T101Thomas Aiken67377
T101Phachara Khongwatmai67575
T101Mikko Korhonen67575
T101Alexander Knappe67179
T101Robert Karlsson67674
T101Darren Clarke67377
T101Richard Bland67674
T101Brandon Stone67674
T101Gregory Havret67377
T101Ryan Fox67476
T101Matthieu Pavon67476
T101Pep Angles67575
T116Chris Gane77675
T116Michael Lorenzo-Vera77576
T116Fabrizio Zanotti77576
T116Kristoffer Broberg77576
T116Matthew Southgate77477
T116Ricardo Gouveia77477
T116Paul Streeter77774
T116Greig Hutcheon77576
T116Edoardo Molinari77774
T116Haydn Porteous77675
T116Lee Slattery77378
T116Dylan Frittelli77774
T128Paul Hendriksen87874
T128Alejandro Canizares87874
T128Zander Lombard87676
T131Matt Wallace97677
T131Joakim Lagergren97578
T131Marcel Siem97479
T131Simon Dyson97479
T131Matthew Cort97380
T136Chris Paisley107975
T136Graham Fox107579
T136Renato Paratore107579
T139Lucas Bjerregaard117382
T139Daniel Im117976
T139Sam Brazel118075
T139Julien Quesne117778
T139Philip Archer117679
144Sam Walker128175
145Hennie Otto137681
146Neil O'briain158277
147Robert Coles177784
-Nathan HolmanWD----
-Brett RumfordWD83--
-Callum ShinkwinDQ7877
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