Ireland’s David Higgins, who is 128th in the Order of Merit and fighting to save his Tour card for next year, moved to the top of the leaderboard at the Telefonica Madrid Open today.
In a do-or-die performance the Waterville professional reeled off nine birdies in his record round of 62 to overtake his compatriot and overnight leader Padraig Harrington.
Higgins leads by one shot on 13-under from England’s Brian Davis who himself fired an impressive round of 64. Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez is two shots further back on 10-under.
Harrington, who tees off after lunch, is joined by a relatively inexperienced trio on eight-under in fourth. They are, Sweden’s Henrik Nystrom, England’s David Lynn and Fernando Roca from Spain.
Darren Clarke moved to six-under with today’s 69 but hopes of the Dungannon man catching Retief Goosen in the Order of Merit chase look all but gone.
Clarke needed to win the two remaining events while the South African had to perform miserably. Instead the US Open champion is also six-under with just three holes of his second round played.
Veteran Des Smyth struggled to maintain the momentum he generated from yesterday’s six-under 65. The 48-year-old dropped back to four-under as he struggled to keep bogeys from the card in a two-over par round of 73.