Sean O'Hair of the US continued his recent impressive form when he matched the day's best score to open a handy three-shot halfway lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Friday. O'Hair made a dream start with birdies at his first three holes and did not drop a shot until his final hole, carding a five-under-par 65 in the second round at challenging Bay Hill.
First round leader Jason Gore could not emulate his Thursday fireworks, but a reasonable 70 left him three shots behind in second place, with Australian Robert Allenby (65) and Japan’s Ryuji Imada (66) four strokes back.
Tiger Woods displayed a brilliant short game to stay in the hunt, five shots adrift after a 69.
■ANDALUCIA OPEN
AFP, SEVILLE, SPAIN
Germany's Marcel Siem carded a second round 67 to top the leaderboard at the Andalucia Open on Friday ahead of Jean-Francois Lucquin and England’s Graeme Storm. Siem reached nine-under at Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, though Storm had a 66 and Lucquin a 69 to both lie at eight-under. Siem said the key to his successful week thus far was not losing his temper.
After a round that included eight birdies and three dropped shots, Siem told the story of two years ago in Cologne when he broke his driver after missing the cut.
“There were a couple of children around. I nearly cried, thought ‘How can I do this,’ then went up to them and said: ‘Don't do this ever,’” he said. “I should be a boxer or a footballer, [so] I can show my emotions.”
Lucquin, who beat Rory McIlroy in a play-off to land his maiden European Tour title at last year's Omega European Masters, carded three birdies, two bogeys and a brilliant eagle three at the 522 yard 16th to add a 69 to his opening 67. David Drysdale’s 67 in the last match out was enough for a share of fourth at seven under — with Swede Michael Jonzon and Spaniard Carlos Del Moral.
■PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL
AFP, PHOENIX, ARIZONA
In-Kyung Kim matched her first-round 68 on Friday to double her lead at the US$1.5 million Phoenix LPGA International.
The South Korean had an eight-under total of 136 to hold a two-shot lead at the halfway point.
She notched two birdies and two bogeys among her first five holes of the day.
Then she found her form, notching four more birdies in a six-hole stretch before completing her round with seven straight pars.
Australian Karrie Webb and Norway's Suzann Pettersen were two shots behind Kim on 138.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng was tied for 24th on even-par and Candie Kung missed the cut on eight-over.
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