McDowell right in the hunt despite penalty

GOLF DIGEST: US TOUR : Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim share the lead at the midway point of the €4 million Honda Classic at…

GOLF DIGEST: US TOUR: Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim share the lead at the midway point of the €4 million Honda Classic at PGA National in Florida, where Graeme McDowell was in flying form before he called a two-shot penalty on himself at the 18th which cost him the chance of a share of the lead.

McDowell was one of the late starters and it seemed a case of saving the best for last. The 30-year-old had the hard work done with five birdies and no dropped shots by the time he stood on the 18th tee.

His afternoon then fell apart after a pushed drive found water on the right. He opted to play the ball in the hazard and somehow managed to get the ball back on the fairway.

However, he immediately called a penalty when declaring his club touched the water on his backswing. After firing a fairway wood onto the front edge of the green from 276 yards, he two-putted. But a get-out-of-jail par five turned into a double-bogey seven.

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It left a sour taste, but McDowell’s honesty should be noted, and after signing for a three-under 67 to get to five under, he is still is very much in contention, just three off the lead.

“I had a pretty good look at the replays and I’m happy enough with the decision,” said McDowell after calling the penalty on himself. “It’s still a bit of a bittersweet end to the day, but at least it’s Friday and I still have the weekend to fix it.”

Villegas fired a second consecutive 66 while American Kim equalled the course record 64 for his share of the lead on eight under, one shot ahead of Fiji’s Vjiay Singh who shot a 66.

England’s Paul Casey and the Canadian pair of Stephen Ames and Mike Weir also shot 64s.

Weir set off from the 10th alongside Villegas, and while the joint leader carded five birdies and two dropped shots, the Canadian matched the leader’s birdie count but kept the bogeys off the card.

Rory McIlroy’s 69 brought the 20-year-old back to level par 140 for the tournament. He picked up two early birdies, dropped his only shot at the seventh before coming home in 11 straight pars.

For the second day running Pádraig Harrington failed to produce anything like his best and signed for a second 71 to make the cut.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Dane Soren Hansen and Angelo Que headed a seven-way tie at the top of the Malaysian Open leaderboard when play was suspended during yesterday's second round due to lightning.

Hansen and Que set the clubhouse lead at seven-under-par after posting second rounds of five-under-par 67 in the energy-sapping humidity at Kuala Lumpur Golf Country Club.

Peter Lawrie rescued a level par 72 to remain at three-under-par overall despite shipping a disastrous quintuple bogey 10 at the par five fifth after twice hitting out of bounds off the tee.

But Darren Clarke, on six over after a 77, and Gary Murphy – on 13 over par – were certain to miss the cut.

EUROPEAN SENIORS TOUR: Sparkling rounds of 64 saw Australian David Merriman and Thai ace Boonchu Ruangkit grab the lead on the first day of Brunei Senior Masters.