Golf: Michael Hoey shot his second 66 of the week, this time at Kingsbarns, to remain in a share of the lead at the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. The Ulsterman is 12-under-par alongside 20-year-old Englishman Tommy Fleetwood.
Hoey, who still has the more difficult Carnoustie to negotiate, began on the back nine at Kingsbarns and was four under by the time he made the turn after birdies at 10, 12, 15 and 18.
His only bogey of the day came at the second but he immediately bounced back at the next and added two more for 34 on the way in.
“I’ve always enjoyed this pro-am format,” the 32-year-old said. “A couple of years ago I was tied for the lead after two rounds. It’s slow, but it really takes your mind off stuff between shots.”
Fleetwood is on target to complete one of the most unlikely doubles in golf. The youngster won the Kazakhstan Open earlier this month, with the first prize taking him top of the European Challenge Tour rankings and securing his place on the main tour for 2012.
But the 20-year-old can win almost 10 times that amount with victory at St Andrews on Sunday after storming into contention with a superb 63 at Kingsbarns.
“It feels pretty good,” Fleetwood said. “It’s pretty unexpected to be honest. Just to get the invite and the experience of playing here is great. I didn’t hit it very well yesterday but I holed good putts on the first three or four holes today and didn’t really look back. I learn every time I play at the moment.
“The last couple of weeks I’ve had no pressure on me really. I know where I’m playing next year, which is great, and it’s definitely given me confidence because there was a bit of thought of ‘Can I win?’ because I had been in there so many times.
“I finally got it done, so let’s see if I can do it on the bigger stage now.”
Former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, who lifted the Claret Jug at St Andrews in 2010, is one off the lead after adding a 67 at Carnoustie to his opening 66 at Kingsbarns. That means the 28-year-old now has two rounds left over the Old Course to try to claim a second victory at the Home of Golf.
However, Oosthuizen will have his work cut out, with 25 players within five shots of the lead going into the final two rounds.
Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell completed a second consecutive 67 to lie two shots back on 10 under, alongside Australian Daniel Gaunt, Scotland’s Marc Warren, Austria’s Markus Brier and South African Jaco van Zyl.
Defending champion Martin Kaymer (67) is a shot further behind after dropping two shots in his last three holes at Carnoustie, with Lee Westwood, US Open champion Rory McIlroy and former amateur star Tom Lewis all on seven under.
Westwood also endured a disappointing finish at Carnoustie, dropping shots at the 17th and 18th in his round of 69, while McIlroy drove into the Barry Burn on the 17th to drop his only shot of the day in a 67.
Padraig Harrington shot a 71 at Carnoustie, the scene of his Open triumph in 2007, to finish five under, while world number one Donald and his 2010 Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie were on four under.
Donald, attempting to become the first man to top the money list on both sides of the Atlantic in the same season, looked set to be in contention until dropping four shots in the last four holes, including driving into the Barry Burn on the 18th to run up a double-bogey six.
Collated second round scores & totals
(Gbr & Irl unless stated,
Irishin bold, par 72)
St Andrews
134Marc Warren 67 67
136George Murray 70 66, Jamie Donaldson 71 65
137Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 67, David Horsey 69 68, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 66
138Alex Haindl (Rsa) 72 66, John Daly (USA) 71 67, Nick Dougherty 73 65, Danny Willett 73 65
139Martin Wiegele (Aut) 70 69, Matt Haines 71 68, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 67, David Lynn 70 69, Sandy Lyle 69 70
140Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 74 66, Jack Senior 69 71, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 70 70, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 67, Mark Foster 74 66
141Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 72 69, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 73 68, Mark Tullo (Chi) 72 69, Ross Fisher 72 69, Robert Coles 75 66, Oliver Wilson 72 69, Anthony Kang (USA) 73 68, Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 74 67, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 74 67
142Peter Karmis (Rsa) 75 67, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 72
143Peter Whiteford 75 68, Rhys Davies 74 69, Bronson La Cassie (Aus) 72 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 77 66
144Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 72 72, David Howell 73 71, Andre Stolz (Aus) 73 71, Oscar Floren (Swe) 72 72, Jason Knutzon (USA) 72 72, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 72 72, Barry Lane 73 71
145Andy Sullivan 74 71
146Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 74 72, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 71 75, Gary Boyd 74 72, Gareth Maybin73 73, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 74 72
147John Parry 73 74, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 76 71
148David McKenzie (Aus) 76 72, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 76 72, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 77 71, Paul McGinley76 72
149Steven Brown 75 74
152Aaron Townsend (Aus) 79 73
Carnoustie
133Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 66 67
134 Graeme McDowell67 67, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 67 67
135Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 67, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 66 69
136James Morrison 67 69
137Peter Hanson (Swe) 68 69, Rory McIlroy70 67, Tom Lewis 68 69, Lee Westwood 68 69
138Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 67, James Byrne 67 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 67 71
139Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 68 71, Padraig Harrington68 71
140Colin Montgomerie 68 72, Luke Donald 69 71, Simon Dyson 69 71, Simon Khan 70 70
141JJ Henry (USA) 71 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 72, Stephen Dodd 69 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 69, George Coetzee (Rsa) 72 69
142Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 70 72, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 73 69, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 71 71, Matthew Griffin (Aus) 72 70
143Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 71 72, Scott Hend (Aus) 74 69, Matthew Zions (Aus) 73 70, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 71 72
144Rafael Echenique (Arg) 71 73, Graeme Storm 71 73, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 72, Dustin Johnson (USA) 71 73, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73 71, Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 73 71, Paul Cutler71 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 73
145Anthony Wall 71 74, Damien McGrane73 72, Floris De Vries (Ned) 75 70
146Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 76, Rohan Blizard (Aus) 76 70
147Pablo Martin (Spa) 71 76, Darren Clarke73 74
148Soren Hansen (Den) 76 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 74
150Steven Jones (Aus) 76 74, Mark Brown (Nzl) 73 77, Thomas Levet (Fra) 75 75
151Kenneth Ferrie 77 74
155Anthony Michael (Rsa) 76 79
Kingsbarns
132Tommy Fleetwood 69 63, Michael Hoey 66 66
134Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 69 65, Markus Brier (Aut) 66 68
136Steve Webster 68 68, Romain Wattel (Fra) 68 68, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 71 65, Tano Goya (Arg) 69 67, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 68 68
137 Shane Lowry68 69, Peter Lawrie70 67
138Brett Rumford (Aus) 73 65, Richie Ramsay 72 66, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 71 67
139Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 66, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 73 66, Paul Lawrie 71 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 70, Bradley Dredge 71 68
140James Kingston (Rsa) 69 71, Joost Luiten (Ned) 72 68, Richard McEvoy 73 67, Scott Jamieson 73 67, Oliver Fisher 71 69
141Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 74 67, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 75 66, Johnson Wagner (USA) 73 68
142David Drysdale 69 73, Stephen Gallacher 74 68, Marcus Both (Aus) 71 71, David Dixon 74 68, Ross McGowan 72 70, Patrick Reed (USA) 71 71
143Robert Rock 74 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 74 69, Todd Hamilton (USA) 72 71, Steven O'Hara 71 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 72, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 70, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 72 71
144Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 70 74, Alan McLean 72 72, Phillip Price 75 69, Kieran Pratt (Aus) 75 69, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 73 71
145Chris Wood 72 73, Seve Benson 72 73
146Richard Finch 75 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 75
147Scott Strange (Aus) 76 71
148Richard Bland 74 74, Gary Orr 75 73, Robert Dinwiddie 74 74
152David Bransdon (Aus) 80 72
