BMW MASTERS at halfway stage

Great Dane Lucas goes three clear in Shanghai
 
FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Lucas Bjerregaard posted a second consecutive 66 today to open up a three-stroke lead at the BMW Masters in Shanghai.
The Dane came agonisingly close to his first European Tour win the last time he was in China three weeks ago when he finished a shot behind Justin Rose at the UBS Hong Kong Open.
And Bjerregaard  was once again in contention at Lake Malaren Golf Club with an inward nine of 31 helping him get to 12 under and establish a comfortable cushion over Thongchai Jaidee and Sergio Garcia.
The 24 year old Bjerregaard is 55th in The Race to Dubai - with the top 60 after this week qualifying for next week's DP World Tour Championship, Dubai - but Bjerregaard will now have more lofty ambitions than getting to the season finale.
He was in the final group on Sunday at the Alfred Dunhill Championship earlier in the season before a closing 89 but four top tens in his last seven events, including that second place in Hong Kong, have proven to him he can compete at the very top.
Starting on the back nine, Bjerregaard birdied the tenth and 16th but dropped a shot on the next as he turned in 35. Birdies then followed on the second, fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth as the World Number 178 surged ahead.
"It was a great round and I finished off with some good birdies coming in," he said. "A great birdie there on six, a tough par three today.
"Nothing much really happened on the first nine, I just played really solid.
"But I thought it was a good bit tougher than yesterday with the wind up. Some of the holes were playing really long.
"But I made some good putts, made some good par saves as well to keep the round going, so that was nice."
Bjerregaard was playing with Peter Uihlein who had seven consecutive birdies from the 15th in his 66 to sit five shots back, and his playing partner admitted he was rooting for the American.
"He had seven birdies in a row and I was cheering him on," said Bjerregaard. "He just missed out by an inch for his eighth in a row and I was really hoping that would go in.
"We had good fun. He's a nice guy. We played three rounds together in Turkey, as well, so it was nice that we both played well."

With Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy not playing this week, there was an opportunity for the chasing pack to seize the initiative but those looking to move ahead of the Northern Irishman will need a good showing over the weekend.
Closest challenger Danny Willett fired a 69 to get to three under with Louis Oosthuizen alongside him and Justin Rose at five under.
Third-placed Shane Lowry, meanwhile, recorded a triple bogey on the sixth on his way to a 75 which left him one over.
Garcia, who held a one shot lead overnight after opening with a 64, started with two pars but picked up a shot on the par five third and then holed an excellent 10-footer down the hill on the sixth for another birdie.
A glorious approach to the seventh handed him an eagle opportunity and, although he missed that, the birdie was a formality and he was 11 under.
Three shots were then lost in two holes on the back nine as the Spaniard found the water on the 13th but a birdie on the 15th got him to within three of the lead.

Jaidee had bogeyed two of his last four holes in the first round and when he dropped a stroke on the fifth, he was well adrift. But birdies followed on the seventh, ninth, tenth, 13th, 15th and 16th before a closing bogey dropped him into a share of second.
Ian Poulter had been level par for his round through 12 holes but a run of four birdies from the 13th got him to eight under and into a share of fourth place with countryman Paul Casey and Byeong-hun An. 
Casey turned in 33 to make a move up the leaderboard but came home in level par while Korean BMW PGA Championship winner An recorded a 71 including four 
birdies and three bogeys.

Uihlein was then at seven under after his heroics alongside Ross Fisher - defeated in a play-off here last year - who bogeyed three of his last five in a 71.
Despite the tougher, windy conditions, Victor Dubuisson was the only player in the top 34 who was over par on the day with a 73 leaving him at six under with Francesco Molinari and two-time Major Championship winner Martin Kaymer.
An's rival for the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award, Matthew Fitzpatrick, was then in the group at five under which included Rose and Henrik Stenson.

SECOND-ROUND SCOREBOARD
 par 144 (2x72)

	POS	MOV	PLAYER	OVERALL	THRU	RND	R1	R2	R3	R4	TOT
	1	3	Bjerregaard, Lucas	-12	F	-6	66	66			132
	T2	1	Garcia, Sergio *	-9	F	-1	64	71			135
	T2	4	Jaidee, Thongchai *	-9	F	-4	67	68			135
	T4	2	An, Byeong-Hun *	-8	F	-1	65	71			136
	T4	2	Casey, Paul *	-8	F	-3	67	69			136
	T4	5	Poulter, Ian *	-8	F	-4	68	68			136
	T7	3	Fisher, Ross *	-7	F	-1	66	71			137
	T7	31	Uihlein, Peter	-7	F	-6	71	66			137
	T9	7	Dubuisson, Victor *	-6	F	+1	65	73			138
	T9	9	Kaymer, Martin *	-6	F	-3	69	69			138
	T9	-	Molinari, Francesco *	-6	F	-2	68	70			138
	T12	6	Broberg, Kristoffer	-5	F	-2	69	70			139
	T12	3	Fitzpatrick, Matthew *	-5	F	-1	68	71			139
	T12	36	Kjeldsen, Soren *	-5	F	-5	72	67			139
	T12	12	Morrison, James *	-5	F	-3	70	69			139
	T12	12	Quesne, Julien	-5	F	-3	70	69			139
	T12	6	Rose, Justin *	-5	F	E	67	72			139
	T12	3	Stenson, Henrik *	-5	F	-1	68	71			139
	T12	12	Wood, Chris *	-5	F	-3	70	69			139
	T20	4	Bourdy, Gregory	-4	F	-2	70	70			140
	T20	11	Dou, Zecheng	-4	F	E	68	72			140
	T20	28	Fleetwood, Tommy *	-4	F	-4	72	68			140
	T20	4	Fraser, Marcus	-4	F	-2	70	70			140
	T20	2	Howell, David *	-4	F	-1	69	71			140
	T20	28	Kieffer, Maximilian	-4	F	-4	72	68			140
	T20	18	Reed, Patrick *	-4	F	-3	71	69			140
	T20	18	Wiesberger, Bernd *	-4	F	-3	71	69			140
	T28	10	Grillo, Emiliano	-3	F	-2	71	70			141
	T28	10	Hebert, Benjamin	-3	F	E	69	72			141
	T28	4	Lee, Danny	-3	F	-1	70	71			141
	T28	4	Liang, Wen-Chong *	-3	F	-1	70	71			141
	T28	4	Oosthuizen, Louis *	-3	F	-1	70	71			141
	T28	20	Willett, Danny *	-3	F	-3	72	69			141
	T28	10	Zhang, Hui-Lin	-3	F	-2	71	70			141
	T35	3	Fisher Jr, Trevor	-2	F	-1	71	71			142
	T35	3	Grace, Branden *	-2	F	-1	71	71			142
	T35	17	Hend, Scott	-2	F	+1	69	73			142
	T35	3	McGinley, Paul	-2	F	-1	71	71			142
	T35	26	Pepperell, Eddie *	-2	F	+2	68	74			142
	T35	3	Pieters, Thomas	-2	F	-1	71	71			142
	T35	17	Stal, Gary *	-2	F	+1	69	73			142
	T35	26	Van zyl, Jaco *	-2	F	+2	68	74			142
	T35	13	Warren, Marc	-2	F	-2	72	70			142
	T44	4	Chen, Zi-Hao (a)	-1	F	-1	72	71			143
	T44	20	Karlberg, Rikard *	-1	F	+1	70	73			143
	T44	35	Ramsay, Richie	-1	F	+3	68	75			143
	T44	4	Slattery, Lee *	-1	F	-1	72	71			143
	T44	18	Wall, Anthony *	-1	F	-2	73	70			143
	T49	13	Canizares, Alejandro	E	F	-1	73	71			144
	T49	25	Luiten, Joost	E	F	+2	70	74			144
	T49	1	Storm, Graeme	E	F	E	72	72			144
	T52	4	Cabrera-Bello, Rafael *	+1	F	+1	72	73			145
	T52	10	Cao, Yi	+1	F	E	73	72			145
	T52	4	Gallacher, Stephen	+1	F	+1	72	73			145
	T52	28	Horsey, David	+1	F	+3	70	75			145
	T52	14	Larrazabal, Pablo	+1	F	-1	74	71			145
	T52	14	Li, Hao-Tong *	+1	F	+2	71	74			145
	T52	28	Lowry, Shane *	+1	F	+3	70	75			145
	T52	14	Sullivan, Andy *	+1	F	-1	74	71			145
	T52	28	Zanotti, Fabrizio	+1	F	+3	70	75			145
	T61	13	Aphibarnrat, Kiradech *	+2	F	+2	72	74			146
	T61	13	Moon, Kyongjun	+2	F	+2	72	74			146
	T61	10	Olesen, Thorbjorn *	+2	F	-1	75	71			146
	T64	2	Ashun, Wu *	+3	F	+1	74	73			147
	T64	16	Daly, John	+3	F	+3	72	75			147
	T64	8	Donaldson, Jamie *	+3	F	-1	76	71			147
	T64	2	Hatton, Tyrrell	+3	F	+1	74	73			147
	T64	40	Noren, Alexander	+3	F	+5	70	77			147
	T69	3	He, Ze-Yu	+4	F	+2	74	74			148
	T69	4	Ouyang, Zheng	+4	F	-1	77	71			148
	T69	60	Zhang, Xinjun	+4	F	+8	68	80			148
	72	10	Levy, Alexander	+5	F	+4	73	76			149
	T73	2	Jacquelin, Raphael	+8	F	+2	78	74			152
	T73	25	Siem, Marcel	+8	F	+8	72	80			152
	T75	-	Jimenez, Miguel Angel *	+9	F	+3	78	75			153
	T75	-	Zhao, Xiongyi *	+9	F	+3	78	75			153
	77	1	Huan Yuan, Zhou (a)	+11	F	+3	80	75			155
	78	5	Hu, Mu	+12	F	+7	77	79			156