Campbell extends advantage

Apr 10 2009

A superb pitch to three feet on the long second and then another birdie two holes later swept Texan Chad Campbell into a three-stroke lead again when the Masters resumed at Augusta today.

Two closing bogeys in his opening round had given Campbell 'only' a 65 after he had threatened to break the major championship record at nine under par with three to play.

He was one in front of Ryder Cup team-mates Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk when he resumed and, although Mahan instantly added a birdie to his tally, Campbell was unruffled and moved back to nine under.

Mahan then ran up a six at the second and currently shares second place with not only Furyk but also their fellow American John Merrick, who in the first group of the day went to the turn in 34.

Merrick was playing alongside Larry Mize, the 50-year-old who was champion in 1987 and who had opened with a 67.

Mize had a shock to his system when he double-bogeyed the opening hole then came back with back-to-back birdies only to drop another shot at the fourth.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, who like England's Ross Fisher got to five under and then bogeyed the 17th and 18th, birdied the long second but bogeyed the seventh to return to three under.