Jamieson, Shields and Snedeker miss halfway cut

Lingmerth leads Aussie PGA Championship

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Swede David Lingmerth holds a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Australian PGA Championship as he made an impressive start to life as an Affiliate Member of The European Tour.
Lingmerth’s win at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament in June has helped him leap over 100 paces in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2015, and the Swede (pictured right)  became an Affiliate Member of The European Tour for 2016 in a bid to make Darren Clarke’s Ryder Cup team.
The 28 year old’s chances of a perfect start to his qualification bid were strengthened as a four under par 68 gave him a one-shot lead on three under at RACV Royal Pines Resort.
Not that Lingmerth is the only player with a chance to become the first European to win the event since David Howell in 1998, with England’s Mark Foster and Spain’s Pablo Martin Benavides part of a seven-strong group tied for second on two under.
American Peter Uihlein is also part of a strong European Tour challenge in the week the 110 year old event makes its first appearance on The Race to Dubai International Schedule.
South Africa’s overnight leader Zander Lombard, his compatriot Dylan Frittelli, and Australia’s Matthew Millar complete the group one behind Lingmerth, with England’s Tom Lewis and Australia’s Jason Scrivener among those a shot further back in a tie for eighth.
Scots Scott Jamieson (74 for 153) and Paul Shields (75 for 157) both missed the cut at 150. But they were in good company. American Brandt Snedeker, the highest ranked player in the field, missed the cut by nine shots with rounds of 84 and 75 for 159.

Player Quotes
David Lingmerth: “I know that I’ve won on the US PGA Tour so of course that gives me some confidence going into the weekend but at the same time there are so many good players on every tour around the world who can all shoot 7, 8 under, both rounds over the weekend, so you never know how it’s going to turn out. 
" I’m really going to have to play very well to win but I do feel like I should have a good shot. I had a great summer really and this autumn hasn’t been as good as I would have liked it to, but I feel like my game, throughout the whole fall, it’s been pretty close, just not great.”
Pablo Martin: “I’m so happy. This game is so much fun when it goes the right way so I am really pleased. I played a really good round and am happy with the score. Yesterday also was a good round but it was kind of tricky to make the putts.  
"The greens are very slick with the Bermuda grass.  You can tell they’re still a little bit young but it’s all good. It’s a great return to form for me. I mean it’s been a very solid year.  By far I’m playing the best golf in all my life, much better than I ever have as as a professional.”
Mark Foster: “I was surprised at the pin positions There’s some really tough pins out there but it’s a big championship, so it is fair enough. The Australian PGA, it’s a big title, so it’s their prerogative and it looks like it’s going to be like that all week. 
"Everybody here wants to win, but I’ll hit you with a cliche here, we’ve only played two rounds. Obviously this calendar year I’ve not been in contention much but this might be the start of a new season hopefully. I’ve been very flat for a long time.  
"Obviously I’m not a jumping through hoops kind of person but it was nice to have a bit of adrenalin going, see your name on a board; it was good and I’m long enough in the tooth to know what to do at the weekend that is for sure.”
Peter Uihlein: “Today was much more efficient. I hit 17 greens, so it was better. It’s tough when the rain comes and goes and then it’s as windy as can be and then it kind of lays down. The weather has been a shocker! 
"Last week at the Aussie Open was windy as can be too but that’s all part of the fun. I had a good end to the year and played well in Dubai, China, Turkey and Hong Kong so I am just trying to build on that and have a good weekend.”

SECOND-ROUND SCOREBOARD
141 D Lingmerth (Swe) 73 68
142 P Martin Benavides (Esp) 75 67; M Millar (Aus) 72 70; D Frittelli (RSA) 70 72; Z Lombard  (RSA) 67 75; M Foster (Eng) 69 73; P Uihlein  (USA) 75 67
143 R Gibson (Aus) 79 64; T Sinnott (Aus) 71 72; J Scrivener (Aus) 72 71; T Lewis (Eng) 72 71; A Hall (Aus) 70 73
144 R Fox (Nzl) 74 70; A Brown (Aus) 73 71
145 J Zunic (Aus) 73 72; N Holman  (Aus) 77 68; D Lawson (Aus) 75 70; A Pike (Aus) 72 73;
146 M Wright (Aus) 76 70; J Wilson (Aus) 73 73; B Rumford (Aus) 74 72; N Cullen (Aus) 72 74; S Manley (Wal) 77 69; B Eccles (Aus) 74 72; B Wharton (Aus) 76 70; D Papadatos (Aus) 75 71; S Fernandez  (Esp) 74 72 
147 P Dunne (Irl) 72 75; R Green (Aus) 73 74; N Bertasio (Ita) 75 72; N Basic (Aus) 74 73; H Park (Kor) 80 67; E Van Rooyen (RSA) 76 71; C Smith (Aus) 78 69; H Varner Iii (USA) 74 73; A Stephens (Aus) 71 76
148 J Younger (Aus) 75 73; A Curlewis (RSA) 76 72; B Åkesson (Swe) 74 74; D Klein  (Ger) 77 71; P Lonard (Aus) 76 72; J Ritchie (RSA) 76 72; C Parry (Aus) 77 71; J Nitties (Aus) 76 72; M Griffin (Aus) 76 72; M McCardle (Aus) 74 74
149 A Price (Aus) 75 74; R Van Der Spuy (RSA) 76 73; B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 72 77; N Ravano (Ita) 73 76; B Rankin (Aus) 76 73; C Nel (RSA) 78 71; M Fraser (Aus) 76 73; D Fox (Aus) 75 74; L Canter (Eng) 79 70; M Goggin (Aus) 76 73
150 T Mordt  (RSA) 79 71; C Hale (Aus) 78 72; J Hook (Aus) 76 74; J Senden (Aus) 73 77; D Lloyd (RSA) 78 72; P Cooke (Aus) 79 71; N Green (Aus) 76 74; A Summers (Aus) 80 70; J Lyle (Aus) 77 73; R Bourke (Aus) 74 76; J Geary  (Nzl) 77 73; D Van Den Heever (RSA) 76 74; D McKenzie (Aus) 74 76; D Nisbet  (Aus) 75 75; H Bateman (Nzl) 76 74
MISSED THE CUT
151 M Brown (Nzl) 76 75; L Jensen (Den) 77 74; M Sim  (Aus) 78 73; B Jones (Aus) 77 74; M Long (Nzl) 78 73; M Baldwin (Eng) 79 72; S Leaney (Aus) 82 69; B Shilton (Nzl) 76 75; J Fahrbring (Swe) 77 74; S Allan (Aus) 77 74; D Bransdon (Aus) 77 74; A Martin  (Aus) 76 75; J Kruyswijk (RSA) 72 79; S Lee (SKor) 76 75; G Chalmers (Aus) 76 75; W Ormsby (Aus) 74 77; C Hanson (Eng) 80 71
152 Y Liu  (Chn) 76 76; V Sexton-Finck (Aus) 77 75; G King (Eng) 76 76; S Arnold  (Aus) 78 74; J Walters (RSA) 76 76; P Edberg (Swe) 77 75; R Enoch  (Wal) 77 75; L McKechnie (Aus) 76 76; O Bekker (RSA) 75 77; T Cooper (Aus) 79 73; R Carter (USA) 80 72; C Ford (Eng) 78 74
153 S Strange (Aus) 74 79; S Jamieson  (Sco) 79 74; C Wood (Aus) 74 79; S Surry (Eng) 76 77; X Li (Chn) 76 77; T Van Der Walt (RSA) 76 77; K Phelan (Irl) 78 75
154 J Norris (Aus) 78 76; J Blaauw  (RSA) 79 75; J McLeod (Aus) 81 73; A Houston (Aus) 76 78; P Senior (Aus) 77 77; E Molinari  (Ita) 77 77; N O'Hern (Aus) 81 73; A Evans (Aus) 78 76; A Blyth (Aus) 79 75;
155 N Gillespie (Nzl) 82 73; R Allenby (Aus) 76 79; O Goss (Aus) 80 75; R Pampling (Aus) 78 77; D Valente (Aus) 81 74
156 E Stedman (Aus) 77 79; P Hayden (Aus) 83 73; R Cairns (Zim) 78 78; T Wood (Aus) 77 79; T Moore (RSA) 80 76; L Tighe (Aus) 80 76; M Moore (Aus) 79 77
157 S Kim (SKor) 82 75; M Docking (Aus) 80 77; P Shields (Sco) 82 75; S Dartnall (Aus) 75 82; L Herbert (Aus) 77 80;
158 R Ruffels (am) (Aus) 79 79
159 B Snedeker  (USA) 84 75; J Choi (SKor) 82 77; A Murdaca (Aus) 76 83; S Ferreira (Por) 82 77
160 D Popovic (Aus) 83 77; G Fairfax (Aus) 78 82; T Bond (Aus) 76 84; G Paddison (Nzl) 82 78; F Bergamaschi (Ita) 81 79
161 R Lynch (Aus) 79 82; J Zhang  (Chn) 82 79; K Mueck (Aus) 79 82
162 C Wright (Aus) 78 84; L Nemecz (Aut) 81 81
164 A Horne (Swz) 83 81
165 R Haller (Aus) 87 78; A Wilkin (Aus) 86 79
166 L Boezaart (RSA) 88 78
168 P O'Malley (Aus) 80 88
172 M Mandhu (Zim) 84 88
** J Lagergren (Swe) 84 withdrew; A Gaugert (USA) 89 retired