• Open Championship, Round Two

Uh-oh, Westwood learned to putt

Lee Westwood showed uncharacteristically good form with the short putter on Friday © Getty Images

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Quick, get out there and buy a lottery ticket. If Lee Westwood is putting well - in a major championship, no less! - then surely almost anything can happen this weekend.

The Englishman, the nearly-man of almost all nearly men when it comes to the majors, gracefully moved his way into contention in this Open Championship with a display of uncharacteristically adept putting on Friday; at one point reaching six-under par for the day before eventually settling for a round of 68.

That put the 40-year-old at the top of the clubhouse leaderboard at two-under, with afternoon conditions suggesting he is not likely to be more than a couple of shots adrift of the halfway lead come Friday evening.

"I made the most of the softer conditions," Westwood, who owns a top-three finish in each of golf's four majors, reflected. "I wouldn't say they were really soft, but it was certainly more scoreable than yesterday afternoon.

"I feel very confident. The golf course is playing tough. You know sooner or later you're going to drop a shot of two. You just have to limit the massive mistakes."

Westwood just about did that, holing a ten-footer at the 14th to avoid a potentially momentum-halting double-bogey. It was one of many missable attempts on the greens that Westwood drained without difficulty, a notable departure from years and even weeks past.

But, more than that, Westwood showed intelligence with his course management - echoing the strategising of Tiger Woods, who will start the third round on the same score. As his playing partners, Charl Schwartzel and Sergio Garcia, used the wind to take shies at the green at the 376-yard 12th, Westwood stuck to his plan and clipped an iron away off the tee - floating in a wedge to six-feet that he would duly hole.

On the 13th tee, Westwood had the honour. Despite their aggressive play, on the previous hole Garcia (who now waits anxiously to discover if he has made the cut) and Schwartzel had both made pars.

A day's good work seems to be early reward for months of reviewing and revising of his overall approach. Westwood has made a number of changes to his preparations in recent months, working with former European Tour pro (and bunker expert) Tony Johnstone on his short game, before linking up with Florida neighbour (and ex-Open champion) Ian Baker-Finch to tune his putting stroke earlier this month.

With his long game he has recently turned to Sean Foley, the man who has coached Justin Rose and Tiger Woods to widespread acclaim in recent times.

The partnerships with Baker-Finch and Foley are only in their infancy, but the ideas already seem to have some positive effects. Westwood has spoken of having more feel and confidence on the greens after taking on a few suggestions from Baker-Finch, one of the greatest putters of his generation, while Foley's thoughts on the swing have helped him "get a little more control" - an interesting assertion for someone who has been one of the purest and most consistent swingers for a decade.

Foley's more permanent tweaks will surely take a while to fully bed in; while it remains a concern whether even the smaller amendments will fully hold up under the magnifying pressure of a major championship weekend.

The same concerns will afflict Woods, though - the world No. 1 has played nothing short of awfully on the occasions he has been in weekend contention at a major since his well-publicised lay-off.

Westwood has been held back by a combination of poor chipping, errant putting and bad luck over the course of his career. He cannot do much about the last factor, but he seems to have been working especially hard in recent months to minimise the effect of the first two.

"My chipping and scrambling have improved out of sight since I moved to Florida [in December] and when I start holing a few more putts I'm going to be difficult to beat," Westwood noted earlier this month.

If he continues to putt as he did on Friday, that prophecy could prove unerringly accurate come Sunday.

With Westwood, however, such prognostications can never be made with much confidence.

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