Lynn birdie sees him tied with Larrazabal

VERSAILLES, France (AP) -- David Lynn birdied the final hole with a bunker shot to share a two-stroke lead with Pablo Larrazabal after the second round of the French Open on Friday.

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

"It was a pretty straightforward bunker shot, not very far, that came off perfect," Lynn said. "I just played solid, like yesterday," Lynn said. "There was no difference, I just kept building on my score and kept it together today."

However, a top-notch group of Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie, Angel Cabrera, Peter Lawrie and Ignacio Garrido are all tied for third place on 36-hole totals of 137 (-5).

Overnight leader Larrazabal held off charges by Westwood, ranked 17th in the world, and 2007 US Open winner Cabrera by carding a one-under 70 to keep the lead despite four bogeys.

"After I made birdies on three and four, I don't know why but I started to hit the ball really bad," said the Spaniard. "I couldn't keep the ball on the fairway."

Cabrera birdied the eighth to share the lead for the first time with Larrazabal at seven-under, but the Argentine lost his advantage on the 17th hole.

"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," he added.

Westwood was the only player not to drop a shot, sinking three birdies for a three-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 I hit the ball and then missed 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 eight-under 63 to climb into eighth place, tied with Soren Hansen, Graeme Storm and Paul Broadhurst.

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

Richard Finch (145), Alastair Forsyth (145), BMW winner Martin Kaymer (146), Anders Hansen (151), Richard Sterne (154) and Oliver Wilson (157) were among some of the players to miss the cut.

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