Storm blows into leading contention

9:39am Saturday 1st March 2008

GRAEME Storm and Phillip Archer put themselves in strong positions at the Johnnie Walker Classic, finishing the second round within striking distance of co-leaders Shiv Kapur of India and Unho Park of Australia.

Archer was on target all day as he shot the tournament's best round so far with an eightunder- par 64 while Storm blitzed the DLF Golf and Country Club course with a six-under 66 as the English duo moved to eightunder 136 for the tournament, two strokes behind Kapur (65) and Park (66).

Storm had seven birdies and a lone bogey in his round.

Having made the cut in only one of three events that he has played so far this season, the 29- year-old from Hartlepool was understandably pleased with his form in India so far.

I've played well the last two days. Yesterday, I didn't hole many putts but today, I holed a couple more and just made one mistake, one blemish on my card in two days,'' said the 2007 French Open winner.

I have not been playing great of late, not been playing much and not been able to practice much either with the weather at home but it is starting to click.

Winning last year has opened a few doors for me and my targets have changed a little. I have not had the best start to the year but there are plenty of tournaments to come.'' Indian ace Jyoti Randhawa (65) and little-known Japanese player Taichiro Kiyota (67) are tied for third place on nine under while Storm and Archer are in a four-way tie for fifth with world number five Adam Scott of Australia (68) and Spain's Jose Manuel Lara (67).

Richard Finch is also handily placed in a four-way tie for ninth on seven under with a group of six players including world number 11 Vijay Singh and local favourite Jeev Milkha Singh a further stroke back.

Ian Poulter and Colin Montgomerie will not be around for the weekend though. Poulter missed the halfway cut of twounder 142 despite firing a valiant 68 to finish on even par while Montgomerie's 76 left him on six over.

Archer began the day on level par but surged up the leaderboard after an electric round on the 7,156-yard Arnold Palmerdesigned layout near Delhi that included an eagle and six birdies.

Storm played in the same flight as second-round co-leader Park, who moved to the top of the leaderboard in the morning after firing a six-under 66.

The Singapore-based Australian, who had seven birdies and a lone bogey in his round, attributed his success so far this week to watching Vijay Singh practising on the range.

I was watching Vijay on the backswing and he keeps his head really still,'' said the 34-year-old Park. He doesn't sway or slide on the backswing and I tried to do something similar.''

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