PATIENCE is the virtue that wily Dane Thomas Bjorn will continue to summon to chase World Cup glory over the weekend. Bjorn maintained composure despite dropping shots on Royal Melbourne opening and closing holes for a three-under 68.He's at eight-under, one shot ahead of American Kevin Streelman (69), with Australian Jason Day (70) and Portugal's Ricardo Santos (69) three shots further back."If you stay patient, you don't need to do a lot to stay up near the lead. I never got ahead of myself,'' the 42-year-old Dane said."I wasn't thinking what score I was shooting. I just wanted to stay focused because on this golf course a lot of people are going to find it difficult."If you get aggressive, it becomes really, really difficult. That's why it's important to get a good start. If you're behind and chasing flags, it can be tough.''A winner of 20 tournaments around the world, Bjorn is revelling in the links-style demands of bump and run shots into the quickening putting surfaces. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. "Open golf suits my eye, it's on feel. I just love a good challenge. I patiently worked my way into the round and the back nine I played awesome,'' he said."When you step on these courses, you've got to be in awe of them. The set up out there was fantastic.''
Streelman threatened to blow away the rest of the field when the joint overnight leader grabbed birdies at each of the first four holes in a sensational start.But, like most of the 60 competitors, he struck trouble, dropping shots at the eighth and ninth."I did what you're supposed to on the first four holes,'' Streelman said.On the mid-round mishaps, the American said: "I just hit it to the wrong part of the golf course on eight and nine and Royal Melbourne will bite you if you do that."I wind kind of died halfway through the round. The greens are really moving and I don't see them getting any slower this weekend, so it's going to be a good battle.''Santos is the mysterious contender to Australian fans who's loving the weather that's similar to his home in Portugal.And he's relying on his deft touch around the greens to set himself up to challenge over the weekend." I think definitely the short game. Around the winds it's really important in this course,'' he said."You want to keep the ball in play and not be aggressive to the pins. You've just got to be careful with it and, if you're in position, then you can enjoy it.''
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