US NATIONWIDE TOUR REPORT

Michael Sim sharing lead at

halfway in Christmas in

October Classic

A double bogey at the 17th cost Paul Claxton the outright lead after two rounds of the US Nationwide Tour's Christmas in October Classic at Overland Park, Kansas. But the 41 year old from Georgia is still a happy man to be figuring in a triple trie with Aberdeen-born Australian Michael Sim (second-round 67), pictured above, and Tom Gillis (68) from Michigan at 10-under-par 132 at the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate.
Steve Wheatcroft (67) is one behind and Joe Daley (66) two shots off the pace.
Claxton, a veteran of 306 career starts on the Nationwide Tour, remained upbeat late in the day despite his 5 at the par-3 eighth hole.
"I hit a bad shot and then I hit a poor bunker shot that didn't get out of the bunker," he said. "When you play golf long enough, stuff like that happens. I'm going to try and put it behind me and think about the good things that happened."
Five birdies on his outward half had got Claxton to 13 under, three better than Sim, who posted his score early in the day. Two bogeys and a lone birdie, coupled with the double, brought Claxton back to the pack. The biggest issue of the day was the wind, which kicked up and remained steady around 20 mph.
"There are no trees and there's nothing to block out there," said Claxton. "It's hammering on you all day. It seemed like a lot of crosswinds today. You're always in between clubs. It's hard to really dial it in because you're guessing a lot and we don't like to guess."
Aberdonian Sim, the Nationwide Tour's leading money-winner this season, needs only one more win to gain automatic and immediate promotion to the US Tour, instead of waiting for the end-of-season move back among the "big boys."
Michael birdied four of his first six holes Friday morning to reach double digits but could do no better than even par the rest of the way, finishing off his day with a bogey on the final hole. It's the second straight day that the 24-year-old stumbled on his closing hole.
"I hit a good drive and a good second shot and the wind just didn't bring it back," said Sim of the 442-yard ninth hole. "I missed it on the wrong side of the flag."
That's about the only thing Sim has done wrong of late. The former No. 1-ranked amateur in the world has won twice and has been a dominant force this year. He tied for 51st at last week's PGA Championship and is only two good days away from win No. 3 and a place among the elite.
"I've been in this position before and I know what it feels like so I'm just going to get it out of back of my mind and just play golf the last two rounds," said Sim, who shared the 54-hole lead at the Cox Classic in Omaha four weeks ago. "I got too distracted in Omaha and thought about it too much. I'm in a position now where I can do it but I've got to try and keep the distractions to a minimum."
A total of 68 players made the 36-hole cut, which came at 1-under 141.
Amateur Harry Higgs, who should be starting his senior year at nearby Blue Valley North High School this week, won't be around for the weekend after rounds of 69-84.
The 17-year-old got into trouble on his fourth hole of the day, the par-4 13th where he took a quadruple-bogey 8. Higgs could not find his tee shot in the heavy weeds and accepted a ride back to the tee to hit another shot.
The lost ball cost him two strokes and he incurred another two-stroke penalty for the cart ride. Higgs, who has already committed to playing golf for Southern Methodist University from August 2010, also had four double bogeys Friday and only one birdie.