Storm happy to stay in the hunt

Jul 19 2008 by Alan Hedley, The Journal

GRAEME Storm did his level best to stay in the hunt for a first Major success – and knows it has to be ‘Moving Day’ today if his dream is to become reality.

The 30-year-old from Hartlepool defied continuing poor weather to shoot a level-par 70 to sit nicely poised at six over par for the Open Championship at the halfway stage.

That’s just seven off the lead held by Korean K J Choi – who lies one ahead of Aussie veteran Greg Norman, the leader for most of the day.

Storm had nothing but praise for Norman, and he knows another 70 or better today is almost certain to move the Aussie into contention for golf’s greatest prize. “You have to respect what Greg’s done in the game and what he has done this week is unbelievable,” said Storm. “If he continues to do what he is doing we could have a fairytale story on our hands.” Having said that, Storm himself showed some real steel and kept his head after reaching the turn in two over par after bogeys at the third and eighth. He picked up successive birdies at 10 and 11, had four threes in five holes and came home in 34 to add a 70 to his first-round 76.

“I’m pretty happy with that,” he added. “I played pretty much the same as yesterday but the conditions were that much better and I capitalised on that.

“I birdied 10 and 11, played both holes perfectly and then got lucky on 15, to be honest.”

There’s no doubt the work Storm has been putting in with coach Peter Cowan and the extra fitness training Stuart McGregor has him doing is paying dividends. “Pretty much everything about my game is coming together at the moment and I’m happy. I’ve been working hard on a few things and everything seems to have clicked into place,” he said.

“I’m still hitting some indifferent shots but they are better than the bad ones I was hitting a couple of weeks ago. I’m well up there and there are a lot of guys on two over par, and we’ll see what happens over the weekend. You never know what will happen with the weather. Saturday is moving day and while I don’t know what time I’ll be off yet, and the weather forecast isn’t good, I hope I get on the right side of it.”

This is Storm’s sixth Major – if you count the 2000 Masters he played in as British Amateur Champion. He led the USPGA at one stage and this is the second time he has made the cut in the Open, but this time he is seriously in contention.

“This is the best position I have ever been in so I can’t complain,” he added. “I feel comfortable, and I felt comfortable coming in on the back nine.

“There’s a lot of pressure being felt out there when the cut is looming, but I did feel comfortable because you know everybody is struggling when you look at the leaderboards. You just know there’s no need to panic because you know six over is going to be in the mix – and that comes with experience of playing at this level. I’m happy with where I am with two rounds to go and if I shoot 70 or better tomorrow, I reckon I will move forward.”