Friday, October 26, 2018

Finau dominates day two in China
Tournament: WGC-HSBC Champions
Race to Dubai: Tournament 44 of 47 events
Venue: Sheshan International Golf Club
Prize fund: $10,000,000
Tony F
This image of Tony Finau is displayed by courtesy of Getty Images

Tony Finau will take a three-shot lead into the weekend at the WGC-HSBC Champions after firing a 67 on a Friday of twists and turns at Sheshan International Golf Club.
The American entered the second round two shots behind overnight leader Patrick Reed but soon overhauled him and led by three before an unfortunate double-bogey on the 11th. 
Three birdies in his last five holes then moved the 29 year old back to 11 under, three shots ahead of Masters Tournament champion Reed, defending champion Justin Rose and reigning Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood.
Finau made his Ryder Cup debut for the United States in the recent defeat at Le Golf National and is looking for his first European Tour win in just his 20th appearance. He played his first regular event in a decade at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship earlier this month and arrived in Shanghai with some momentum after a top ten in Scotland.
Fleetwood and Reed are currently second and third respectively in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex as they look to chase down Francesco Molinari, while Rose could go back to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking should results go his way over the weekend.
Belgian Thomas Pieters matched the lowest round of the week with a 64 to sit at five under alongside Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Keegan Bradley, Emiliano Grillo, Pat Perez and Kyle Stanley.
Rory McIlroy is out of the picture with disappointing scores of 72 and 77 for 149.
Player Quotes
Tony Finau: “I played nicely. Was happy with the way I finished. I was pleased to make a few birdies coming down the stretch.
“That was about as bad a break as I've ever had, to kick all the way over the green into the hazard. One thing I've learned in this game, you take the good with the bad and keep moving forward. I knew I was playing well still and still at the top of the leaderboard. Just keep plugging along and try to get that back and I was able to do that.
“I think I just stay in attack mode. I think there's guys, a lot of great players here that are looking to chase me down. I've got to stay in attack mode, continue to make birdies and if I limit the mistakes, I think it will be a good weekend.”
Justin Rose: “It was the opposite wind today. Although it was tough, certain holes played much harder than yesterday and certain holes played easier. The par fives played easier, certainly eight and two played easier than they did, but yeah, just found my moments to make birdies.
“Might have been a bogey-free round, so yeah, that's pretty tidy. Those rounds don't often come, especially in breezy conditions. I kept it mentally obviously sharp and I felt like towards the end of the round I was trying to whip myself and keep driving forward and making good decisions and good swings.”
Tommy Fleetwood: “Good again, especially the back nine, I felt like I swung it really well for a good period of time there. That's the most comfortable I've felt on the course this week, and it really wasn't easy today.
“It's great to be up there. Another day tomorrow. Just go out, whatever the targets are that we set or whatever the swing thoughts are, we'll just go and concentrate on them. All you can do is try and do your best and hit shots. If I can play like I did today, I'll be very happy with whatever comes after that, whatever score it is.
“Tony is great and he's due a win to be fair. He's done everything else this year, so I wouldn't put it past him or hold it against him if he did get the win, but there's a long way to go. Two rounds left.”
Patrick Reed: “Really it was a grind today. It was one of those days that you easily could have shot 76 or 77 with playing out of the rough all day and hitting three balls in the water, and you know, being able to salvage even par and only being three back starting the weekend, I'm happy with where I'm at. All I need to do is tighten it up a little bit and we should be right there and ready to go.
“Right now I'm just trying to play great golf and finish off the year right, because even though the US PGA Tour season has now started, for the European Tour, it's still going on. I'm a little bit behind Francesco (Molinari) in that and I'm hoping to close that gap and have a chance to hopefully win the Race to Dubai.”
Second Round Scores
par 144 (2x72)
133 T Finau (USA) 66 67
136 T Fleetwood (Eng) 68 68, P Reed (USA) 64 72, J Rose (Eng) 69 67
137 X Schauffele (USA) 66 71
138 P Cantlay (USA) 70 68
139 K Stanley (USA) 70 69, E Grillo (Arg) 70 69, K Aphibarnrat (Thailand) 68 71, T Pieters (Belgium) 75 64, P Perez (USA) 70 69, K Bradley (USA) 69 70
140 I Poulter (Eng) 69 71, R Fox (NZ) 70 70, B Horschel (USA) 68 72
141 A Levy (Fra) 71 70, A Putnam (USA) 70 71, R Cabrera Bello (Spn) 68 73, J Day (Aus) 71 70, P Casey (Eng) 73 68
142 H Matsuyama (Jpn) 72 70, T Hatton (Eng) 72 70, A Scott (Australia) 69 73, A Hadwin (Canada) 74 68
143 B Grace (SAf) 72 71, C Reavie (USA) 70 73, A Pavan (Ita) 72 71, A Noren (Swe) 74 69, G Coetzee (SAf) 69 74, A Sullivan (Eng) 72 71
144 G Bhullar (India) 72 72, M Wallace (Eng) 69 75, T Olesen (Denmark) 75 69, C Pan (Taipei) 68 76
145 A Björk (Swe) 70 75, W Liang (Chn) 72 73, P Kizzire (USA) 74 71, S Kodaira (Jpn) 72 73, H Li (Chn) 73 72
146 J Catlin (USA) 75 71, B Harman (USA) 73 73, S Vincent (Zimbabwe) 73 73, S Kim (USA) 72 74, B An (S Kor) 75 71, B Koepka (USA) 72 74
147 J Hatraliarding (SAf) 76 71, D Johnson (USA) 74 73, J Ritchie (SAf) 71 76, J Norris (Australia) 74 73, A Otaegui (Spn) 72 75, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 67 80
148 E Van Rooyen (SAf) 76 72, S Park (SKor) 77 71, A Bland (Australia) 76, C Smith (Australia) 76 72, X Zhang (Chn) 72 76, O Bekker (SAf) 77 71
149 C Hoffman (USA) 74 75, K Na (USA) 75 74, Y Ikeda (Jpn) 75 74, Y Yuan (Chn) 78 71, J Suri (USA) 74 75, R McIlroy (NIre) 72 77, J Scrivener (Australia) 75 74, J Rahm (Spn) 73 76
150 J Campillo (Spn) 73 77
151 B Snedeker (USA) 75 76, R Knox (Sco) 74 77, F Molinari (Ita) 76 75, L Bjerregaard (Denmark) 77 74
153 B Rumford (Australia) 73 80, A Wu (Chn) 73 80
154 Y Liu (Chn) 75 79, B Stone (SAf) 74 80
155 B Xiao (Chn) 76 79
156 Y Inamori (Jpn) 74 82
160 S Sharma (India) 80 80
Withdrew: C Wood (Eng) 
 
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