Korean 1-2 at halfway in Volvo China Open

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS WEBSITE
Y E Yang ominously moved one shot behind fellow Korean Kim Do-hoon at the halfway stage of the Volvo China Open at Suzhou Jinji Lake International Golf Club today.
Yang, who finished eighth at The Masters last week, embarked on a back-nine birdie blitz to close on his equally in-form but lesser known compatriot.
With Kim topping the second-round leaderboard at 11 under par after a three-under 69, Yang carded an impressive 66 to earn a share of second alongside Asian No 1 Thongchai Jaidee and Welshman Jamie Donaldson.
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Thongchai battled his usually reliable putter to card a two-under 70, while Donaldson posted six birdies in a 68 to improve to 10 under overall, a shot clear of Spain's Pablo Larrazabal (69) and Finland's Mikko Illonen (67).
While Yang saved par at his final hole on a bright but breezy second day, Kim will hope his only dropped shot of the day after misjudging the wind into the final green will not become a factor over the weekend.
The 21-year-old is looking to follow up a third place at the Luxehills Chengdu Open at the start of April and a maiden victory on the Korean Tour at the SBS Tomato Open just last week.
"I thought I would be quite nervous as it is a big tournament, but I am very comfortable after two rounds," said the 2006 Asian Games gold medallist.
"I hope to play well this week and hopefully become the champion. I am not nervous and I feel comfortable after winning last week in Korea.
"I shot 64 last week and I feel I am the hottest Korean player right now."
The only Scot to miss the cut - by one shot - was 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie with rounds of 74 and 71. The highest-placed Scot is the mercurial Marc Warren, six shots off the pace with scores of 71 and 68 for 139.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
133 Do-hoon Kim (Korea) 64 69
134 Jamie Donaldson (Wales) 66 68, Y E Yang (Korea) 68 66, Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 64 70
135 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 68 67, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 66 69
136 Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 66 70
137 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 69 68, Dae-hyun Kim (Kor) 70 67, Corey Pavin (USA) 67 70
138 Soon-sang Hong (Kor) 67 71, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 67, Shane Lowry 70 68, Oliver Fisher 73 65, Graeme Storm 69 69
139 Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 67, Marc Warren 71 68, Peter Lawrie 67 72, Mark Foster 75 64, Johan Edfors (Swe) 68 71, Ross McGowan 71 68
140 Damien McGrane 67 73, Graeme McDowell 70 70, Peter Whiteford 70 70, Colin Montgomerie 72 68, Steven Bowditch (Aus) 72 68, Danny Willett 71 69, Josh Geary (Nzl) 73 67, Stephen Dodd 69 71, Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 71 69, Bradley Dredge 70 70
141 Stephen Gallacher 70 71, Wen-Tang Lin (Tpe) 71 70, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 69 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 73 68, Pablo Martin (Spa) 71 70, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 73
142 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 71 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 71, Anthony Wall 72 70, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 75 67, David Dixon 70 72, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 72, Tano Goya (Arg) 70 72, Ted Oh (Kor) 73 69, Kang-Chun Wu (Chn) 72 70, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 72 70, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 71
143 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 72, Ki-sang Lee (Kor) 75 68, David Gleeson (Aus) 73 70, Oliver Wilson 69 74, Phillip Price 73 70, Rhys Davies 73 70, Joon-eob Son (Pkr) 71 72, Mu Hu (Chn) 69 74, Matthew Millar (Aus) 72 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 72, Alastair Forsyth 69 74, Paul McGinley 71 72, Qin Xu (Chn) 74 69
144 Richard Lee (Nzl) 72 72, Gareth Maybin 72 72, David Howell 73 71, David Horsey 76 68, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 74 70, Danny Lee (Nzl) 73 71, David Drysdale 75 69, Marcus Both (Aus) 74 70, Scott Barr (Aus) 75 69, Stephen Dartnell (Aus) 74 70, Gui Ming Liao (Chn) 70 74, Hao Yuan (Chn) 72 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 73 71, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 74 70
MISSED THE CUT
145 Aaron Townsend (Aus) 75 70, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 73 72, Jin Zhang (Chn) 73 72, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 73 72, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 73 72, Zhi-Jin Xiao (Tpe) 71 74, Robert Rock 75 70, Paul Lawrie 74 71, Richard Finch 71 74, Michael Long (Nzl) 70 75, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 71, Markus Brier (Aut) 74 71, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 74 71, Leigh Mckechnie (Aus) 73 72
146 Sang-hyun Park (Kor) 72 74, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 72 74, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 75 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 76 70, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 74 72, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 73 73, Brett Rumford (Aus) 73 73, Anthony Kang (USA) 72 74, Ewan Porter (Aus) 72 74, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 72 74, Bi-o Kim (Kor) 76 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 74, Sam Little 77 69, Seong Ho Lee (Kor) 74 72
147 Scott Laycock (Aus) 71 76, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 75 72, Daniel Im (USA) 79 68, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 75, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 73 74, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 74 73, Ariel Canete (Arg) 76 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 76
148 Richard Bland 77 71, Paul Waring 73 75, Ming-chuan Chen (Tpe) 74 74, Scott Strange (Aus) 76 72, Ashun Wu (Chn) 73 75, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 77 71, Jae Hoon Jung (Kor) 73 75, Chao Li (Chn) 73 75, Joon woo Choi (Kor) 73 75
149 Gary Lockerbie 75 74, Hui Qiang Wang (Chn) 73 76, Zhi-Feng Qiu (Tpe) 75 74, Lei Shang (Tpe) 74 75, Hyun-woo Ryu (Kor) 76 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 75 74
150 Scott Hend (Aus) 75 75, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 75, Se Xiao (Chn) 73 77, Ashley Hall (Aus) 77 73
151 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 73 78, Cui-Lin Gu (Chn) 76 75
152 Ye Tian (Chn) 79 73, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 78 74, Xin-jun Zhang (Chn) 75 77, Wen-gen Zheng (Hkg) 78 74, Yu-xiang Liu (Chn) 76 76
153 Chang-lei Zhang (Chn) 76 77, Andrew Bonhomme (Aus) 77 76
154 Shu Tao Gu (Chn) 77 77, Xiong-hui Ye (Chn) 78 76, Zhi jun Ou (Chn) 78 76, Wei Huo (Chn) 78 76, Wei-Huang Wu (Chn) 79 75, Hai-bao Cheng (Chn) 79 75, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 82 72, Adam Blyth (Aus) 76 78
155 Jian Chen (Chn) 78 77, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 78 77
156 Tsung-yu Tsai (Tpe) 76 80, Wen-yi Huang (Chn) 78 78
157 Jason Norris (Aus) 74 83, Jin-biao Yang (Chn) 75 82

European Tour Scoreboard
VOLVO CHINA OPEN
Suzhou Jinji Lake Golf Club, Suzhou, China
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS (before end of play)
Par 144 (2x72)
133 Do-hoon Kim (Pkr) 64 69
134 Jamie Donaldson 66 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 64 70
137 Dae-hyun Kim (Kor) 70 67, Corey Pavin (USA) 67 70
138 Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 67
139 Mark Foster 75 64, Ross McGowan 71 68, Marc Warren 71 68.
140 Graeme McDowell 70 70, Colin Montgomerie 72 68, Danny Willett 71 69, Peter Whiteford 70 70.
143 Alastair Forsyth 69 74.
144 David Drysdale 75 69.
PROJECTED HALFWAY CUT-OFF POINT
145 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 73 72, Richard Finch 71 74, Paul Lawrie 74 71.
146 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 73 73
148 Ashun Wu (Chn) 73 75
149 Gary Lockerbie 75 74
150 Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 75
151 Cui-Lin Gu (Chn) 76 75
152 Xin-jun Zhang (Chn) 75 77
154 Wei Huo (Chn) 78 76, Adam Blyth (Aus) 76 78

Get a grip! Sergio switch

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pays off with lowest round

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since February

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE

Sergio Garcia switched to a weaker grip and produced his lowest round since February as he moved onto the leaderboard at the end of the first day of the US PGA Tour's Verizon Heritage tournament in South Carolina.
The Spaniard, who tied for 45th at last week's Masters and is without a victory since the 2008 Players Championship 23 months ago, played with a new grip at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island and shot a four-under-par first-round 67, matching his best round since the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in mid-February.
That put Garcia, pictured above, in a tie for fourth place, three shots behind leader K J Choi of Korea, who maintained his sparkling Masters form with an early 64.
The high point of Garcia's season to date has been the fourth place he secured at the World Golf Championship-Accenture Match Play two months ago in Arizona and the European Ryder Cup star admitted he has not happy with his game.
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"We're working on it but it's taking time," he said. "Whenever I figure it out, I'll let you know."
Choi, meanwhile, could not be happier with his game. Having tied for fourth place with Tiger Woods at Augusta National last Sunday, five strokes behind champion Phil Mickelson, his purple patch continued further east at Harbour Town.
Choi shot a seven-under-par 64 that included eight birdies and one bogey to take a two-shot lead over England's Greg Owen and Canada's Mike Weir.
Owen carded eight birdies and two bogeys while Weir had an eagle at the par-four first, the 10th hole of his round. The 2003 Masters champion holed out from 144 yards on his way to an opening 66.
Garcia shared fourth place with a dozen other players, including five-time tournament winner Davis Love III and another American, Jerry Kelly, who recorded a hole in one at the 193-yard par-three fourth hole having also managed the feat in 2007 when the hole was playing eight yards longer.
Also on four under was world number six Jim Furyk, a week after shooting an 80 at Augusta on his way to missing the Masters cut. Furyk's round could have been better but for a bogey at the par-four 18th.

SCOREBOARD

FIRST ROUND
Par 71
64 K J Choi (Kor)
66 Mike Weir (Can), Greg Owen (Eng)
67 Jerry Kelly, Jason Dufner, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Davis Love III, Woody Austin, James Driscoll, Shaun Micheel, Jim Furyk, Bill Haas, Chad Collins, Bo Van Pelt, Glen Day, Tim Clark (Rsa)
68 Michael Letzig, Bryce Molder, Brian Davis (Eng), Matt Bettencourt, Charles Howell III, Will MacKenzie, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), J J Henry, Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Boo Weekley, Rickie Fowler
69 Scott McCarron, Michael Bradley, Byeong-hun An (Kor), Lucas Glover, J.P. Hayes, Greg Kraft, Ben Curtis, Nick O'Hern (Aus), James Nitties (Aus), Matthew Jones (Aus), Ricky Barnes, Chad Campbell, Brett Quigley, Roland Thatcher, Martin Laird (Sco), Luke Donald (Eng), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Stuart Appleby (Aus)
70 Heath Slocum, John Mallinger, Webb Simpson, Robert Karlsson (Swe), Chris Tidland, Tim Petrovic, Marc Leishman (Aus), Kris Blanks, Mark Anderson, Steve Flesch, Joe Ogilvie, Chris DiMarco, Greg Chalmers (Aus), Jason Day (Aus), Kevin Na, Charlie Wi (Kor), Jeff Maggert, Camilo Villegas (Col)
71 Zach Johnson, Jeff Quinney, Ted Purdy, Lee Janzen, Scott Piercy, Matt Kuchar, Stewart Cink, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl), Daniel Chopra (Swe), George McNeill, Rocco Mediate, Briny Baird, D.J. Trahan
72 Spencer Levin, Brian Gay, Chris Couch, Steve Wheatcroft, Alex Prugh, John Daly, Bob Estes, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor), Brendon De Jonge, Rodney Pampling (Aus), Mark Brooks, Michael Connell, Alex Cejka (Ger), Richard S Johnson (Swe), Michael Allen, Tom Gillis, Johnson Wagner, Troy Merritt
73 Omar Uresti, Kevin Johnson, Harrison Frazar, J.B. Holmes, Robert Allenby (Aus), Cameron Beckman, Jonathan Byrd, Brandt Snedeker, Josh Teater
74 Brian Stuard, Charles Warren, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Steve Lowery, Graham Delaet (Can), Chez Reavie, Steve Elkington (Aus), Brad Faxon, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Mark Calcavecchia, Matthew Every, Jimmy Walker, Scott Verplank, Stephen Ames (Can)
75 Bud Cauley, Brent Delahoussaye, Nathan Green (Aus), Bill Lunde, Paul Casey (Eng), Parker McLachlin, Troy Matteson
76 Jeff Klauk, Scott Medlin, Mathew Goggin (Aus)
77 Vaughn Taylor, Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Jason Bohn, Blake Adams, Nicholas Thompson