Lynn, Larrazabal lead after two rounds at French Open

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Jun. 27, 2008

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) -- David Lynn birdied the last hole with a bunker shot to share a two-stroke lead with Pablo Larrazabal on Friday after the second round at the French Open.

"It was a pretty straightforward bunker shot, not very far, that came off perfect," Lynn said.

The Englishman, ranked 65th on the European Tour, fired a 6-under 65 for a 135 total to join Spanish qualifier Larrazabal at the top of the leaderboard.

"I just played solid, like yesterday," Lynn said. "There was no difference, I just kept building on my score and kept it together today."

Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie, Angel Cabrera, Peter Lawrie and Ignacio Garrido were tied for third place with a 5-under 137.

Overnight leader Larrazabal held off charges by Westwood, ranked 17th in the world, and 2007 US Open winner Cabrera.

Larrazabal shot a 1-under 70 to keep the lead despite four bogeys in the second round.

"After I made birdies on 3 and 4, I don't know why, I started to hit the ball really bad," Larrazabal said. "I couldn't keep the ball on the fairway."

Cabrera birdied the 8th to share the lead for the first time with Larrazabal at 7-under.

But the Argentine lost the lead on the 17th.

"I missed the drive on the 17th and made a double bogey," Cabrera said. "But that's not a problem. We are only halfway."

On the last hole, Cabrera nearly finished only one stroke behind Larrazabal as his approach shot landed past the flag but, with the back spin, bounced off the cup for a four-foot par putt.

"If I can continue to hit the ball like I have done yesterday and today, then I have a great chance," Cabrera said.

Westwood was the only player not to drop a shot, sinking three birdies for a 3-under 68.

"My course management was great today," Westwood said. "I have hit the ball more or less where I wanted to and hit very few destructive shots."

"The greens are soft but you have to hit the ball in the right spots because you can be in chest-high rough just five yards off the fairway," Westwood added.

Montgomerie birdied the last two holes to share third with Cabrera and Westwood.

"That was 16 holes of utter frustration," Montgomerie said. "The way that I hit the ball today and then to miss everything was unbelievable."

The Scot, who won the French Open in 2000, missed several short birdie putts.

"I am not going back to the hotel," Montgomerie said. "I am off to the putting green. You might find another putter tomorrow."

Shiv Kapur shot the round of the day with nine birdies and one bogey for an 8-under 63 to climb into 8th place, tied with Soren Hansen, Graeme Storm and Paul Broadhurst.

The Indian player was one stroke away from the record for the lowest score on the Albatross course set by Argentina's Eduardo Romero in 2005.

Robert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands holed the 16th in one to win a BMW X6 awarded by the organizers. Chapchai Nirat of Thailand also achieved the feat earlier, but it was on the 2nd hole and he did not get the car.

Richard Finch (145), Alastair Forsyth (145), Martin Kaymer (146), Anders Hansen (151), Richard Sterne (154) and Oliver Wilson (157) missed the cut.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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