LITTLE-KNOWN Ho-Sung Choi is the halfway leader at the Volvo China Open but Paul McGinley is just three back after a best-of-the-day 67 on the Beijing CBD International Golf Course.
Choi’s second-round 68 gave him a two-shot lead – the Korean collecting seven birdies on day two, including four in five holes from the turn, to finish at six-under-par 138 for the tournament, two clear of Markus Brier and Chapchai Nirat.
Brier, the first-round leader and 2007 winner of this event, slipped back to four-under-par 140 overall after a second round of 73.
The Austrian sits alongside Thailand’s Nirat, who carded a one-under-par 71.
But McGinley was the big mover, his 67 putting him alongside Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (70) in a tie for fourth on three-under-par 141.
His five-under-par score was largely down to fine work with his putter and following the struggles of the afternoon groups, he is now well placed to mount a title challenge going into the weekend.
And McGinley, whose best finish so far this season was a tie for 53rd at the Hong Kong Open in November, is optimistic he can now consign his recent woes on the greens to the past and start to produce more consistent results.
“It’s been a worrying start to the season, I’ve played decently but if I putted better I’d have played better,” he said.
“I’ve been working pretty hard. I’ve been afraid of missing greens because chipping to three and four feet has been a problem, my chipping’s been quite good but my putting hasn’t.
“The putter’s made a big difference as I got a lot more aggressive with my iron shots which was great, my iron play got better as the day went on.”
Having begun the day two over par, McGinley was more concerned about making the cut than troubling the leaderboard but the Ryder Cup star now looks ahead to the closing two rounds brimming with confidence.
Starting on the 10th, McGinley blitzed his opening nine holes with five birdies to go out in 32 but slowed down after the turn as a bogey at the first was cancelled out by a birdie at the sixth.
European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie added a second consecutive 73 and sits alongside defending champion Damien McGrane, who shot 74, and Gareth Maybin (70) at two-over.
McGrane dropped shots at the first, second and 18th while picking up just one birdie at the fifth.
Maybin carded birdies at the fifth, seventh, 10th and 16th in his second round 70.
However, there was no joy for Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy, who both missed the cut.
Lawrie added a second round 77, which included a seven at the par-three 11th, for 149 while Murphy shot 78 for 154.
USPGA TOUR: Former British Open champion Todd Hamilton moved to the top of the leaderboard at the Verizon Heritage as overnight pacesetter Alex Cejka battled to stay in touch.
The American shot a bogey-free, five-under-par second-round 66 to take the early lead at eight-under-par 134. Germany’s Cejka, who was one over for the round at the turn having shot an opening 64 on Thursday.
Rory Sabbatini of South Africa was in the clubhouse with a 68 that took him to four-under-par 138.
Spanish veteran Jose Maria Olazabal had begun the day in a tie for sixth after an opening, three-under 68 and the two-time Masters champion followed that with a second-round 71 to stay at three under at the halfway mark.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy birdied the par-five second to get his round off to a good start and was one under par through nine holes.
CHALLENGE TOUR: A sizzling round of 64 helped England’s Gary Boyd to the top of the leaderboard at the midway stage of the Tusker Kenya Open on the European Challenge Tour.
The highlights of Boyd’s round were birdies at the eighth and 14th holes, the two longest par fours on the course, and a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th which took him to 11 under par.
That saw him establish a commanding lead over his nearest challengers, European Tour champion Carl Suneson of Spain and South African David Hewan, who shot rounds of 67 and 66 respectively to finish on six under par.
Alan Murray from Greystones is best of the Irish on 142 after a second round 73. Peter O’Keeffe and Gareth Shaw also made the cut on 144.
CHINA OPEN
(Irish in bold, British unless stated)
138 – Ho-sung Choi (Kor) 70 68.
140 – M Brier (Aut) 67 73, C Nirat (Tha) 69 71.
141 – G Fdez-Castano (Spa) 71 70, Paul McGinley (Irl) 74 67.
142 – D McKenzie (Aus) 68 74, R Finch 71 71, S Dyson 69 73.
143 - S Strange (Aus) 70 73, I Van Weerelt (Ned) 74 69, G Storm 72 71
144 - C Del Moral (Spa) 72 72, A Townsend (Aus) 73 71, W Heo (Kor) 72 72, R Cabrera Bello (Spa) 73 71, C Phadungsil (Tha) 70 74
145 - M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 72, F Delamontagne (Fra) 72 73, B Grace (Rsa) 72 73, S Drummond 75 70, M Lafeber (Ned) 71 74, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 75, S Wakefield 76 69, S Dodd 74 71, C Scott (Aus) 71 74, D Dixon 72 73, B Kennedy (Aus) 72 73
146 - Damien McGrane (Irl) 72 74, J Kingston (Rsa) 73 73, R Echenique (Arg) 72 74, P Edberg (Swe) 75 71, K Kang (Kor) 76 70, J Edfors (Swe) 74 72, F Aguilar (Chi) 73 73, E Tage Johansen (Nor) 74 72, A-Shun Wu (Chn) 74 72, W Liang (Chn) 72 74, K Barnes (Aus) 76 70, J Hoon Jung (Kor) 75 71, B Wiesberger (Aut) 73 73, A Hall (Aus) 75 71, K Song (Aus) 71 75, C Wood 72 74, Gareth Maybin (NIrl) 76 70, C Montgomerie 73 73, B Rumford (Aus) 74 72, F Zanotti (Par) 76 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 74 72, P O’Malley (Aus) 71 75
147 - R Bland 76 71, M Erlandsson (Swe) 76 71, D Gleeson (Aus) 74 73, W Kim (Kor) 75 72, N Dougherty 68 79, A Coltart 74 73, K Eriksson (Swe) 72 75, L Zhang (Chn) 73 74, P Hedblom (Swe) 76 71, K Moon (Kor) 73 74, M Millar (Aus) 70 77, M Fraser (Aus) 74 73
148 - J Gonnet (Fra) 71 77, C Gaunt (Aus) 74 74, P Waring 72 76, J Van de Velde (Fra) 74 74, M Brown (USA) 71 77, J Zhou (Chn) 76 72, A Snobeck (Fra) 75 73, A Rocha (Bra) 73 75, W Besseling (Ned) 72 76, M Long (Nzl) 73 75, M Tunnicliff 74 74, P Martin (Spa) 75 73.
Failed to make the cut: 149 – Peter Lawrie 72 77. 154 – Gary Murphy 76 78.
USPGA TOUR VERIZON HERITAGE
(at Harbour Town Links, Hilton Head)
(USA unless stated, par 71)
Early second round scores:
134 - Todd Hamilton 68 66,
137- Davis Love III 70 67,
138 - Tim Petrovic 68 70, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 68,
139 - Scott Piercy 69 70, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 68 71, Tom Lehman 70 69, Charley Hoffman 70 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 71, Bob Estes 68 71, Tommy Gainey 71 68,
140 - Greg Owen (Eng) 69 71,
141 - Jose Coceres (Arg) 74 67, Charlie Wi (Kor) 71 70, Matt Kuchar 71 70, Boo Weekley 69 72, Nathan Green (Aus) 70 71,
142 - Bill Lunde 73 69, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 68 74, Tim Clark (Rsa) 72 70, Ben Crane 73 69, Nick OHern 72 70, George McNeill 71 71, Chris Couch 73 69, Stewart Cink 72 70, Brad Adamonis 74 68,
143 - Dean Wilson 69 74, Cliff Kresge 68 75, Woody Austin 70 73, Jonathan Byrd 70 73, Charles Howell III 69 74, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 75 68, Justin Leonard 70 73, Jeff Maggert 68 75.
144 - Robert Garrigus 70 74, Steve Lowery 73 71, Will MacKenzie, Glen Day, Michael Allen.
145 - Bob Tway 72 73, Jeff Klauk 72 73, John Senden 74 71, Tim Herron 73 72, Webb Simpson 71 74, Jim Furyk 74 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 73.
146 - John Mallinger 70 76, Michael Bradley 76 70, Brian Davis 72 74, Matt Bettencourt 75 71, Troy Matteson 76 70.
147 - Billy Mayfair 77 70, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 71 76, Steve Flesch 77 70, Mark Brooks 75 72, Jarrod Lyle 73 74.
148 - Jeff Quinney 73 75, James Driscoll 73 75, Chris Stroud 73 75.
CHALLENGE TOUR KENYA OPEN (Muthaiga GC, Nairobi, Kenya)
Second round
131 - G Boyd (Eng) 67 64
136 - D Hewan (Rsa) 70 66, C Suneson (Spa) 69 67
137 - S Juul (Den) 66 71, A Butterfield (Eng) 67 70, M Kramer (Ger) 68 69
138 - T Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 71 67, LS James (Eng) 70 68, A Wagner (Arg) 69 69
139 - G Houston (Wal) 71 68, A Marshall (Eng) 67 72
140 - A Bernadet (Fra) 70 70, V Riu (Fra) 69 71, M Haastrup (Den) 70 70, C Brazillier (Fra) 71 69, L Moolman (Rsa) 68 72
141 - G Hutcheon (Sco) 70 71, M Rominger (Swi) 67 74, A Odoh (Ngr) 71 70, R McEvoy (Eng) 70 71, J Grillon (Fra) 70 71, R Coles (Eng) 69 72
142 - J Billot (Fra) 72 70, J Forestier (Fra) 72 70, T Ferreira (Rsa) 71 71, K Linnet Jorgensen (Den) 73 69, J Quesne (Fra) 71 71, Alan Murray (Irl) 69 73, G Jackson (Eng) 68 74, B Vaughan (Rsa) 73 69, T Charamba (Zim) 71 71, E Molinari (Ita) 71 71, J Larsen (Nor) 71 71, J Axgren (Swe) 71 71, M Bremner (Rsa) 69 73
143 - M Wiegele (Aut) 70 73, A Willey (Eng) 73 70, A Shah (Ken) 70 73.
Other Irish: 144 - Peter O’Keeffe 70 74,
Gareth Shaw 71 73. Missed cut: 149 - Simon Thornton 74 75, Noel Fox 73 76,
151 - Michael McGeady 76 75.
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