SOTOGRANDE, Spain – Colin Montgomerie moved closer to his eighth European Tour money title and took the outright lead in the Volvo Masters with a 5-under 66 Friday.

U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell, the only player who can spoil Montgomerie’s Order of Merit title bid, carded a 69. Montgomerie was 9 under at 133, eight shots ahead of the New Zealander.

Campbell must rally in the final 36 holes to keep Montgomerie from topping the money list for the first time since the Scot won the last of his seven straight titles in 1999.

Ian Poulter of England, who shared the first-round lead with Montgomerie and played with him Friday, carded a 68. He was two shots off the lead, tied with Sergio Garcia of Spain, who had a 67.

Montgomerie made a fast start by collecting birdies on three of the first four holes. He birdied three more holes on the back nine but bogeyed the 10th and 18th, where he missed a par putt of 4 feet.

Campbell had five birdies in his round, but made bogeys at the sixth, seventh and 11th holes.

“I played great tee to green but I had a few silly holes,” he said. “Monty is up there doing his stuff again but I can’t control what he does. I can just control my own destiny.”

Campbell doesn’t like Valderrama.

“It’s a course where you need to work the ball a lot off the tee,” he said. “You’ve got to learn to like it and hopefully the next two rounds will do it for me.”

AP-ES-10-28-05 1310EDT


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