Justin Rose leads by one in Hong Kong
Hong
Kong: England’s Justin Rose took a one-shot
advantage by carding a second round four-under-par 66 to lead the UBS
Hong Kong Open on Friday.
The
world number seven, who had previously missed the cut at the Hong Kong
showpiece in 2011, restored his confidence with the Hong Kong Golf Club
by posting a two-day
total of nine-under-par 131 to sit atop the leaderboard at the US$2
million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.
Denmark’s
Lucas Bjerregaard secured outright second with another 66 while Chinese
Taipei’s Lu Wei-chih, who is continuing his recovery from a brain
tumour surgery suffered
three years ago, battled through fatigue to trail Rose by two shots in
tied-third place alongside England’s Ian Poulter.
India’s Anirban Lahiri and Korea’s Y.E. Yang were among the five players bunched in equal fifth place on matching 134 total.
Rose,
who is among one of the pre-tournament favourites, started out strongly
with birdies on 14 and 18 to get into the share of the lead, having
started the day tied
for third.
He
then rolled in a 15-foot putt from the edge of the green on the third
hole to get to eight-under. Ross made another birdie on four, dropped
his first shot of the
day on nine before recovering immediately with a birdie on his last to
snatch the outright lead.
“I’m
obviously in a wonderful position going into the weekend. This course
has given me some trouble the last time I played it, so it was nice to
figure out more of
a decent game plan, which paid off so far,” said Rose.
Lu continued to spearhead the Asian challenge like he did on the opening day of the UBS Hong Kong Open.
“It
took me a few holes to get into the rhythm, just like the first round. I
started gaining my confidence after a few holes and the putts started
to drop,” said Lu.
“But
toward the end of the round, I felt pretty tired and most of my drives
ended up in the rough. Fortunately, I saved a few pars coming home,”
added the father-of-two
who marked his card with four birdies, one bogey and a double-bogey.
Poulter,
who made a last-minute dash to Hong Kong so as to fulfil his membership
requirements on the European Tour, delighted the crowds by racing off
the blocks quickly
with four birdies and a bogey in his opening nine holes.
Poulter,
who won the UBS Hong Kong Open title in 2010, then picked up further
gains on the third and fourth holes before dropping another shot on
nine.
“I don't play to take part. I play to win. Even coming in as late as I did, my mind was focused on shooting a good score.
“So
albeit I had not played a practice round, I've got good memories of
this golf course. I know the place and I like it. And hopefully I can
have a good weekend” said
Poulter.
Lahiri
also believes he can move into contention during the weekend despite
signing for a 67 which left him three shots back of Rose.
“I'm
feeling good. I think I'm playing some of my best golf in terms of how
I'm hitting it. It has not been good in terms of scoring over the two
days as it could easily
have been in double digits.
“But
you know, if I can keep hitting it like this on the weekend and give
myself some chances, I'll be pretty happy,” said Lahiri.
The weekend cut was set at even-par with 76 players making the cut.
SECOND-ROUND SCORES
Par 140 (2x70) Yardage 6,710
=
=
131 J Rose (Eng) 65 66, 132 L Bjerregaard (Den) 66 66, 133 L Wei-Chih (Tpe) 64 69, I Poulter (Eng) 67 66, 134 Y Yang (SKor) 68 66, A Lahiri (Ind) 67 67, M Ford (Eng) 69 65, N Holman (Aus) 68 66, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 67 67, 135 J Singh (Ind) 65 70, G Bhullar (Ind) 69 66, G McDowell (Nir) 66 69, O Fisher (Eng) 66 69, L Wen-Tang (Tpe) 67 68, A Pavan (Ita) 64 71, R McEvoy (Eng) 67 68, 136 P Meesawat (Tha) 67 69, S Chawrasia (Ind) 66 70, J Scrivener (Aus) 68 68, J Knutzon (USA) 68 68, S Brazel (Aus) 69 67, R Gangjee (Ind) 66 70, R Wannasrichan (Tha) 69 67, 137 J Janewattananond (Tha) 69 68, S Yates (Sco) 69 68, P Reed (USA) 68 69, D Chia (Mas) 71 66, S Supupramai (Tha) 68 69, M Kawamura (Jpn) 68 69, R Gonzalez (Arg) 69 68, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 69 68, M Nixon (Eng) 70 67, P Marksaeng (Tha) 70 67, 138 M Fraser (Aus) 72 66, U Park (Aus) 68 70, A Groom (Aus) 68 70, S Rahman (Ban) 67 71, V Dubuisson (Fra) 68 70, N Fung (Mas) 71 67, C Lee (Sco) 71 67, D Lipsky (USA) 68 70, M Foster (Eng) 69 69, S Jamieson (Sco) 71 67, C Pan (Tpe) 65 73, L Jensen (Den) 70 68, T Jaidee (Tha) 71 67, R Karlberg (Swe) 69 69, 139 D Gaunt (Aus) 68 71, A Dodt (Aus) 71 68, S Lee (Kor) 70 69, A Que (Phi) 72 67, A Da Silva (Bra) 71 68, C Nirat (Tha) 67 72, P Hanson (Swe) 69 70, E Goya (Arg) 73 66, J Kruger (RSA) 71 68, D Drysdale (Sco) 68 71, L Weber (Fra) 73 66, M Lundberg (Swe) 71 68, J Walters (RSA) 71 68, 140 D Van Tonder (RSA) 73 67, W Ormsby (Aus) 71 69, P Pittayarat (Tha) 70 70, P Maddy (Eng) 70 70, J Wang (Kor) 71 69, B Evans (Eng) 69 71, C Paisley (Eng) 70 70, R Kakko (Fin) 67 73, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 71, P Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 71 69, C Pigem (Esp) 69 71, G Havret (Fra) 72 68, P Uihlein (USA) 70 70, M Perera (Sri) 71 69, C Shih-Chang (Tpe) 71 69, J Randhawa (Ind) 70 70, CUT LINE 141 J Colomo (Esp) 72 69, E Espana (Fra) 71 70, R Khan (Ind) 70 71, K Horne (RSA) 75 66, J Barnes (Eng) 71 70, D Johnson (USA) 69 72, M Korhonen (Fin) 74 67, 142 J Lando Casanova (Fra) 73 69, M Ilonen (Fin) 70 72, D Horsey (Eng) 70 72, C Phadungsil (Tha) 70 72, B Easton (RSA) 69 73, V Riu (Fra) 76 66, R Lee (Can) 71 71, P Harrington (Irl) 70 72, K Phelan (Irl) 66 76, P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 72 70, C Kim (USA) 68 74, S Kapur (Ind) 70 72, D Brooks (Eng) 71 71, 143 T Lewis (Eng) 70 73, A Vongvanij (Tha) 68 75, M Crespi (Ita) 72 71, M Mamat (Sin) 70 73, P Peterson (USA) 74 69, L Wen-Chong (Chn) 70 73, C Doak (Sco) 71 72, J Lara (Esp) 71 72, J Lagergren (Swe) 70 73, S Hend (Aus) 69 74, C Plaphol (Tha) 71 72, M Jiménez (Esp) 70 73, 144 A Kang (USA) 72 72, J Carlsson (Swe) 71 73, J Stewart (Hkg) 74 70, T Tang (Hkg) 74 70, J Higginbottom (Aus) 74 70, J Roos (RSA) 73 71, T Wiratchant (Tha) 72 72, A Atwal (Ind) 73 71, 145 S Barr (Aus) 71 74, J Edfors (Swe) 73 72, G Mulroy (RSA) 74 71, H Chien-Yao (Tpe) 74 71, S Benson (Eng) 72 73, C Lloyd (Eng) 75 70, M Tabuena (Phi) 73 72, K Pratt (Aus) 74 71, 146 A Otaegui (Esp) 75 71, M Lampert (Ger) 76 70, 147 K Richardson (Aus) 68 79, L Hao-Tong (Chn) 72 75, 148 W Choy (Hkg) 74 74, A Lascuna (Phi) 76 72, O Farr (Wal) 70 78, M Wong (am) (Hkg) 72 76, 149 B Ritthammer (Ger) 73 76, 150 S Lewton (Eng) 76 74, B Henson (USA) 72 78, 151 C Del Moral (Esp) 72 79, L Chi-Bing (Sin) 78 73, W Woon-Man (Hkg) 78 73, M Both (Aus) 76 75, 152 P Lawrie (Irl) 78 74, 154 T Ng (am) (Hkg) 78 76, 155 H Shun-Yat (Hkg) 81 74, 156 S Norris (RSA) 79 77, ** R Paratore (Ita) 71 DQ,
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