I worry about the impact that will have
"I worry about the impact that will have." Come 3pm this afternoon he will not be the only one.. Colin Montgomerie headed straight for the airport yesterday afternoon after seeing his faint hopes of repeating his maiden European Tour victory evaporate at Quinta do Lago. Colin Montgomerie headed straight for the airport yesterday afternoon after seeing his faint hopes of repeating his maiden European Tour victory evaporate at Quinta do Lago. The former European No 1 added a second-round 72 to his opening 73 for a one-over-par total that looked like being one too many to make the cut despite a strong breeze making scoring difficult. The 38-year-old Scot certainly thought as much and made a swift exit, no doubt mulling over how he was in danger of missing the cut in consecutive events for the first time since the Smurfit European Open and BMW International in 1998, a run stretching back almost three years."I'm on my way home," the world No 5 confirmed "Obviously I'm disappointed I had opportunities coming in but my putting let me down It's one of those things.
It's not so good just now but I'll have to go and work on it and see if I can get out of it."The rest of my game? It can't be good can it? I shouldn't be missing cuts." At one-over par, Montgomerie was 11 shots off the pace set by his playing partner, Padraig Harrington, the Irishman adding a 70 to his superb opening 64 to finish on 10-under-par."It was tougher this morning when it was cold and we were pretty unhappy to have got both rounds in strong winds," said Harrington, who finished second in consecutive events in Malaysia and Singapore earlier this season. "It was in a slightly different direction which made the par fives out of range so I'm delighted with that score and to be in contention at the weekend."Harrington enjoyed a two-shot lead over the field with England's David Gilford and Scotland's Alastair Forsyth on eight under and Roger Chapman, playing in his 500th European Tour event, a further two shots adrift. Harrington revelled in the conditions to keep the field at bay, with Forsyth and Gilford also making light of the breezy morning.Forsyth spoiled his morning's work with a closing bogey but the Scot, who was a contender for Europe's rookie of the year award last year, did enough for a 68 and a share of second place, while Gilford had a 70, both for a total of 136.Chapman's 70, meanwhile, kept him in touch with the pace-setters and in the frame to make a bid for a share of the spoils in this milestone outing.Scott Simpson, a retired snow skier, glided into a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic on Thursday.The 45-year-old claimed six birdies in a flawless six-under-par 66, while his fellow Americans Jerry Kelly, Dudley Hart, Robert Damron, Spike McRoy, Shaun Micheel and Jeffrey Lankford, and the Australian Aaron Baddeley all finished with 67s.The defending champion, Hal Sutton, the highest world-ranked player in a field sadly lacking star quality, shot a 70 on a day when the field averaged 71.7 strokes at Forest Oaks.Simpson, the 1987 Greensboro champion he also won the US Open that year missed all of 2000 while recovering from a broken right ankle, an injury he incurred while skiing in late 1999.Second-round scoresAlgarve Portugese Open (Quinto Do Lago) Qualifiers after second round (GB or Irl unless stated): 134 P Harrington 64 70 136 A Forsyth 68 68, D Gilford 66 70 137 D Howell 67 70, I Garrido (Sp) 69 68 138 R Chapman 68 70, S Dyson 69 69, N Fasth (Swe) 66 72. 139 S Scahill (NZ) 70 69, A Hansen (Den) 68 71, P Price 72 67, R Gonzalez (Arg) 68 71, J Robinson 71 68, P Sjoland (Swe) 67 72, A Forsbrand (Swe) 70 69. 140 P Fowler (Aus) 71 69, J Haeggman (Swe) 68 72, W Bennett 70 70, J Hobday (SA) 70 70, S Struver (Ger) 70 70, H Kuehne (US) 71 69, M Mouland 70 70, P McGinley 71 69, E Boult (NZ) 67 73.
141 C Hainline (US) 72 69, G Rojas (Arg) 72 69, R Wessels (SA) 73 68, S Luna (Sp) 71 70, D Lynn 66 75, D Park 70 71, J Rose 70 71, T Immelman (SA) 68 73, C Cevaer (Fr) 71 70, N Colsaerts (Bel) 71 70. 142 M Mackenzie 70 72, J Bickerton 69 73, D Botes (SA) 73 69, M Scarpa (It) 76 66, B Rumford (Aus) 74 68, K Ferrie 68 74, R Claydon 70 72, B Davis 71 71, M Brier (Aut) 70 72, M Lundberg (Swe) 70 72. 143 A Cejka (Ger) 70 73, H Nystrom (Swe) 72 71, B Dredge 72 71, S Webster 69 74, G Turner (NZ) 69 74, J Sandelin (Swe) 72 71, I Poulter 67 76, S Kjeldsen (Den) 73 70, M Pinero (Sp) 75 68, R Byrd (US) 72 71, R Winchester 69 74, M Lafeber (Neth) 72 71, *D Price 70 73, R Green (Aus) 71 72, *N Dougherty 71 72, A Coltart 75 68, M Gronberg (Swe) 72 71, TJ Mu?(Sp) 68 75, H Stenson (Swe) 70 73, D Higgins 66 77, R Russell 72 71, G Havret (Fr) 71 72, *N Campino (Por) 72 71, D Hospital (Sp) 70 73, M Blackey 68 75, J Berendt (Arg) 68 75. 144 A Oldcorn 70 74, A Raitt 70 74, P Streeter 72 72, P Eales 74 70, P Quirici (Swit) 73 71, F Cea (Sp) 71 73, J Rystrom (Swe) 71 73, H Otto (SA) 71 73, I Woosnam 74 70, M Davis 70 74, J Rivero (Sp) 70 74, SP Webster 70 74.* Amateur.. Eddie Irvine's appearance on the front row yesterday should not be misinterpreted as the emergence of a new force in Formula One, but it may represent the first indication that Jaguar are getting their house in order. Eddie Irvine's appearance on the front row yesterday should not be misinterpreted as the emergence of a new force in Formula One, but it may represent the first indication that Jaguar are getting their house in order. The Ulsterman was second fastest in practice for tomorrow's Spanish Grand Prix, beaten only by the combination of David Coulthard and the McLaren-Mercedes, which, seemingly, can do little wrong.Friday's times are often deceptive, since teams are working to their own programmes and running different fuel levels, and Irvine was frank in his declaration: "Read nothing into this.'' However, he does believe Jaguar have produced an effective and reliable traction control system while some teams, notably Williams-BMW, are having difficulty achieving those twin objectives.Irvine said: "We got through the programme we set out for today, mainly on tyres But we won't be right up there in qualifying.
We are really 13th."The positive thing is that we have got our traction control working. We've done a race distance with it and some of the others haven't. We shouldn't be in for points through performance, but if people have trouble with reliability you never know.''Four races into the season, Jaguar have yet to trouble the scorer and they have been the focus of much speculation. The arrival of Niki Lauda as a kind of overlord has inevitably raised questions about the future of Bobby Rahal, the team principal.Luciano Burti, the Brazilian who partnered Irvine until this grand prix, has been replaced by the Spaniard, Pedro de la Rosa, and moved to Prost. Irvine's contribution has also been challenged by distinguished commentators.Irvine maintains there was a need, among other things, for a chief racing engineer, a gap now filled by Mark Ellis. It is, Irvine contends, a sign that the operation is heading in the right direction. "I'm working with someone who has similar thoughts and opinions,'' Irvine said.
"For the first time the team is focused on the programme we have for the two cars for the weekend It was a question of finding the right man. You can put Coco the Clown there but it's not the thing to do."It's too early to say how Pedro will get on I don't know what he can do. I was impressed with the way Luciano came on." De la Rosa was dropped by Arrows and signed by Jaguar as test driver before the start of the season. He makes his debut for the team at his home grand prix and acquitted himself well yesterday to record the seventh-fastest time.He said: "To go from testing to racing is easier than the other way around I am returning to my natural habitat. I was angry not to be racing because all drivers want to race I was very upset but kept working. I never thought it was over."For Coulthard it was business as usual, topping the time sheet virtually all day and calmly going about his work and confirming the progress of the past month. Again he was significantly quicker than his team-mate, the double champion Mika Hakkinen, who was sixth and had a disquieting spin across a gravel trap.Rubens Barrichello was third, two places ahead of his illustrious Ferrari partner, Michael Schumacher.
