Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Poulter shares lead after his caddie falls ill

Phil Casey
Saturday 31 August 2002 00:00 BST
Comments

Ian Poulter claimed a share of the lead at the half-way stage of the BMW International Open here, despite having his caddie taken to hospital with pneumonia.

Jimmy Rae, widely-known as "Edinburgh Jimmy", felt ill during Thursday's first round but managed to complete all 18 holes as Poulter carded an opening 65. He was then seen by the on-site doctor and ordered to go to hospital where he was diagnosed with the illness and will remain until at least next weekend.

That left Poulter needing to find a new bagman before his second round yesterday afternoon and Colin Montgomerie's caddie, Andy Prodger, answered his call. Prodger, not working here because Montgomerie had pulled out on Tuesday to rest his injured back, caught the last flight from Edinburgh to London on Thursday night and was on the first flight to Munich yesterday.

That flight from Heathrow was delayed for 90 minutes and he arrived at the course just 40 minutes before the tee-off time of 1:10pm. He immediately got into the groove as Poulter birdied the first on his way to a 66 and 13-under halfway total alongside fellow Englishmen Richard Bland and Jamie Spence.

Poulter, himself on standby for the Ryder Cup if Montgomerie or any of the other automatic qualifiers pulls out, revealed: "Jimmy said all last week he was not feeling well and I told him to take a week off – but being stubborn he came over and was sick on the course about 15 times."

Prodger, who caddied for Nick Faldo during his first US Masters victory in 1989, added: "I was gobsmacked. My wife asked me out of the blue how Ian's caddie was doing and then I got the phone call – but it's nice to caddie for a nice player."

Greg Norman also pulled out on Tuesday with a back injury, as did Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance after nine holes of his first round, and Bernhard Langer was fighting a bout of food poisoning suffered after his opening round 64.

The veteran German was unsure whether he would be able to start his round but recovered from dropping shots at the first two holes to card a 69 for an 11-under total, one behind his Ryder Cup team-mate Thomas Bjorn who moved into fourth with 64.

The former Open champion John Daly and Ireland's Padraig Harrington, first and second last year, made the cut with nothing to spare on four under, Daly having to birdie the last to do so.

BMW INTERNATIONAL OPEN (Munich, Ger) Leading second-round scores (GB or Irl unless stated): 131 R Bland 65 66; J Spence 67 64; I Poulter 65 66. 132 T Bjorn (Den) 68 64. 133 B Langer (Ger) 64 69. 134 E Canonica (It) 67 67; D Lynn 67 67; F Jacobson (Swe) 69 65; P Golding 69 65. 135 P Casey 72 63; R Muntz (Neth) 70 65; H Bjornstad (Nor) 69 66; A Forsyth 68 67; D Park 68 67; D Howell 70 65; S Tinning (Den) 68 67. 136 D Lee 68 68; M A Jimenez (Sp) 68 68; J Bickerton 67 69; M Olander (Swe) 69 67; J Haeggman (Swe) 69 67. 137 J Rose 70 67; B Lane 68 69; S Dyson 70 67; G Clark 70 67; N Dougherty 70 67; M Gronberg (Swe) 70 67; A Mednick (Swe) 72 65. Selected: 138 A Coltart 70 68; D Geall 70 68; A Marshall 69 69; G Orr 70 68; R Coles 65 73; W Bennett 72 66; B Dredge 70 68; P McGinley 70 68; G Owen 69 69. 139 I Garbutt 71 68; A Wall 70 69; S Khan 68 71; R Claydon 67 72.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in