Friday 26 May 2017 14:07, UK
Lee Westwood maintained his consistent form at the BMW PGA Championship despite admitting he found it difficult to combat the swirling breezes and all-new greens at Wentworth.
Westwood added a solid 69 to his opening 70 to sit just two shots behind early second-round leader Thomas Pieters, and the English veteran completed 36 holes with only two bogeys on his card.
The 44-year-old birdied the fourth, seventh and ninth as he cruised to the turn in 33, and he picked up another shot at the long 12th before making his only mistake of the day at the tough 15th and parring safely in to stay at five under.
Westwood is now determined to sustain his challenge having fallen short in recent years, being in the top three after 54 holes in three of the last six years without managing to clinch a maiden win on the West Course.
"I've played well both days," he said. "Very solid, only a couple of bogeys, which is good around this golf course. You've got to hit it well and keep it in the fairway so you can get maximum control into the greens. I'm putting nicely as well, so pleased with the way I'm playing.
"The relaying of the greens is a massive improvement and they are much truer. But you sometimes have it in your head what your putt is going to do and it's doing the opposite. You should be hitting and reading every putt on its merits and sometimes you don't."
Westwood admitted the light, but swirling winds made club selection tricky on a few holes, but he is delighted with how he has managed his game and kept the errors to a minimum.
"One of the joys of Wentworth, standing in the middle of the fairway thinking the wind should be off the right and you can feel it off the left, but it's just one of the defences of the golf course," he added. "You are playing through a lot of avenues of trees all the time, and it gets in there and it swirls around.
"You have to combat that. It makes clubbing difficult and, when the greens are as firm as this, it's obviously even trickier. So it puts a premium on hitting fairways.
"But all in all, it's been good and the golf course is in great condition. We've got some fantastic weather, and I'm looking forward to the weekend."
