HE IS ever so slightly round-shouldered, the result of bending over a million putts. If he allowed the beard he occasionally wears to sprout again, it would be shot with grey. However, even as he approaches his 51st birthday, on his day Eduardo Romero is more than a match for even the sprightliest young Turk. Need proof? Right — yesterday he had a 62 to lead the French Open.

Included in the round that took him to the top of the leaderboard on 132, ten under par, was an outward half that he covered in 29 strokes. It was the first time he had broken 30 in a European Tour career that started in 1985: to say he was pleased was not the half of it.

The veteran Argentinian ascribed his brilliance to the fact that, after a three-month break, he had returned to practising Rhami Hayat, an Indian yoga technique. It had worked wonders, he said, but then, it needed to after a spell in which his putting had owed more to Yogi Bear than yoga.

His frailties on the short stuff had seen him miss five cuts in six events — “(I was taking) 36, 37, 34 putts,” he said — but part of the mind games he is playing at present is to put a picture of a hole on the wall and visualise his ball dropping into it. Agreed, it sounds a little on the loopy side, but all that matters is that it has worked.

If Romero finishes second or better here, he will earn a place in the Open Championship via a mini order of merit that has been running for eight weeks and ends tomorrow. Otherwise, he will have to play 36 holes of an international final qualifying competition at Sunningdale on Monday in his last chance to play in his 18th Open. It is fair to say that a good deal depends on the next two days for a good old ’un.