WIZARD FROM OZ GOES TWO CLEAR AT KAZAKHSTAN OPEN

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 at 14:32

 

                            

 

Arnold high fives his way to Kazakh lead

Former World Amateur Number One Scott Arnold carded his second consecutive five under par round of 67 to move to the front after Day Two of the lucrative Kazakhstan Open at Nurtau Golf Club.

That handed the Australian, who counts cricket legend Ricky Ponting as a friend, a one shot lead over Denmark’s Jeppe Huldahl in Almaty, with 2008 Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson a further shot back as his revival on the European Challenge Tour continues.

Over the challenging lay-out at Nurtau, which has received huge praise from the players this week, Arnold’s pinpoint accuracy from the tees and impressive approaches – missing just three greens in regulation so far this week – helped launch him to the top on ten under par.

After teeing off on the tenth, the Australian flew out of the blocks thanks to three birdies in his opening four holes, with a bogey at the 11^th mixed in among the bunch, before he picked up another shot at the par three 16^th to reach the turn in three under par.

He also began his second nine on a positive note with a birdie at the first before carding a two at the fifth to make it four birdies in the four par threes.

“I played lovely really,” said the Sydney native, who turned 28 exactly one week ago. “I have played really nicely now for the two days but I think it was better today. Yesterday I just holed a few putts but today I was a bit closer, so I left a lot out there today with the putter.

“I have driven the ball nicely and I have been hitting the ball relatively nicely. If I have missed the fairway it has only been in the first cut and that has been very rarely. Hopefully I can keep that up over the weekend.

“I found a few things on the range on Wednesday and I have put them into play and it’s worked a treat so hopefully we can keep it going and see what happens at the weekend.

“If I can put my first two rounds together into one round, there’s something really low out there for me but you just have to do the best you can and at the end of the day you hope it adds up to something good.”

Huldahl, meanwhile, could not build on his stunning opening round on Day Two and stayed static on nine under par after a level par second round of 72, but he remains right in contention for a first Challenge Tour title since 2008.

Nine-time runner up on The European Tour Wilson signed for a six under par 66 to move to within two shots of the lead on eight under par, in tied second alongside Sweden’s Johan Carlsson.

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS

Par 144 (2x72)

134 S Arnold  (Aus) 67 67,

135 J Huldahl (Den) 63 72,

136 O Wilson (Eng) 70 66, J Carlsson (Swe) 69 67,

137 L Claverie (Esp) 70 67, V Riu  (Fra) 73 64, A Otaegui  (Esp) 67 70,

138 P Maddy (Eng) 69 69, B An (Kor) 70 68, R Steiner (Aut) 69 69, S Kim (Kor) 69 69,

139 S Tiley (Eng) 74 65, P Widegren  (Swe) 69 70, D Gaunt (Aus) 69 70, C Kim (USA) 65 74, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 71 68, B Ritthammer (Ger) 69 70,

140 G Cambis  (Fra) 69 71, T Hatton (Eng) 68 72, D Brooks (Eng) 71 69, L Kennedy  (Eng) 69 71, D Stewart (Sco) 70 70, F Praegant (Aut) 71 69,

141 J Guerrier  (Fra) 71 70, A Pavan (Ita) 70 71, P Archer (Eng) 71 70, N Lemke (Swe) 73 68, J Fahrbring (Swe) 68 73, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 70 71, B Stone (RSA) 69 72,

142 R McGowan  (Eng) 73 69, S Kapur (Ind) 71 71, C Del Moral (Esp) 71 71, L Bjerregaard  (Den) 72 70, D Huizing (Ned) 73 69, P Oriol (Esp) 71 71, J Elson  (Eng) 74 68, C Ford (Eng) 72 70, N Elvira  (Esp) 69 73,

143 A Velasco (Esp) 69 74, A Bernadet  (Fra) 70 73, F Calmels  (Fra) 73 70, R Kakko  (Fin) 72 71, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 72 71, A Gee  (Eng) 68 75, D Kemmer (USA) 70 73, H Porteous (RSA) 76 67, D Im (USA) 70 73, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 72 71, C Aguilar  (Esp) 71 72, M Brier (Aut) 70 73, W Booth  (Sco) 71 72,

144 S Hutsby  (Eng) 72 72, A Rota (Ita) 74 70, G Houston (Wal) 72 72, G Stal  (Fra) 70 74, E Dubois (Fra) 73 71, A Johnston (Eng) 70 74, C Hanson (Eng) 71 73,

145 P Figueiredo  (Por) 70 75, A McArthur  (Sco) 74 71, J McLeary  (Sco) 73 72, T Sluiter  (Ned) 66 79, M Haastrup  (Den) 74 71, J Senior (Eng) 73 72, J Heath  (Eng) 75 70, C Brazillier  (Fra) 73 72, J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 70 75, R Davies (Wal) 73 72, J Barnes (Eng) 71 74, P Edberg (Swe) 71 74, N Ravano (Ita) 72 73, M Ford (Eng) 70 75,

 

MISSED THE CUT

 

146 J Lima  (Por) 71 75, W Besseling  (Ned) 75 71, D Ulrich (Sui) 70 76, B Parker  (Eng) 73 73, P Relecom  (Bel) 73 73, T Pulkkanen  (Fin) 73 73, N Raymond (Eng) 77 69,

147 G Murray  (Sco) 72 75, F De Vries  (Ned) 75 72, J Moul  (Eng) 74 73, C Russo (Fra) 74 73, B Hebert  (Fra) 73 74, A Domingo (Esp) 73 74, M Crespi  (Ita) 74 73,

148 E Johansen  (Nor) 74 74, S Manley (Wal) 74 74, J Dantorp (Swe) 75 73, J Sim  (SKor) 75 73, S Walker (Eng) 72 76, D Griffiths  (Eng) 72 76,

149 J Timmis (Eng) 76 73, R Saxton (Ned) 75 74, G Shaw (Nir) 74 75, F Colombo (Ita) 76 73, J Glennemo (Swe) 71 78, B Chapellan (Fra) 73 76, B Paolini (USA) 76 73,

150 N Quintarelli (Ita) 74 76, K Ferrie (Eng) 75 75, O Bekker (RSA) 74 76, N Dougherty  (Eng) 75 75, K Borsheim  (Nor) 68 82,

151 S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 72 79, M Glauert (Ger) 77 74, F McGuirk  (Eng) 73 78, Å Nilsson (Swe) 75 76, L Goddard  (Eng) 72 79,

152 D Vancsik (Arg) 73 79, P Gustafsson (Swe) 76 76, K Lifanov (Rus) 78 74, M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) 72 80,

154 Y Kong (Kor) 77 77, J Howarth (Eng) 76 78,

155 M Trappel  (Aut) 75 80,

156 L Canter (Eng) 81 75,

159 T Murray (Eng) 75 84,

161 A Perrino  (Ita) 82 79, D Tuleubayev (am) (Kaz) 83 78,

162 K Clement (USA) 81 81, L Saltman (Sco) 80 82,

165 A Mayorov (Rus) 81 84, M Nichols (Eng) 83 82,

166 A Pavlov (Rus) 86 80,

169 Y Kafelnikov (Rus) 86 83, B Kang (am) (Kaz) 87 82,

171 A Vongay  (Kaz) 87 84,

** T Nørret (Den) 75 RT, H Bacher (Aut) DQ  0, D Frittelli (RSA) RT  0,

 

 

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