Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin extended his lead over a high-class field on day two of the BMW Asian Open yesterday as John Daly crashed out with a second straight horror round.
The 34 year-old Jacquelin carded a three-under 69 to go into the weekend action at nine under.
He was three shots clear of South Korea's Lee Sung-Man in second place and four ahead of a big pack of players that includes Scotland's Colin Montgomerie.
PHOTO: AP
World number five Ernie Els, the highest ranked player in the event, co-sanctioned by the European and Asian tours, had a frustrating day with the putter and was forced to settle for a second consecutive 71 to sit seven shots off the pace.
Daly, the big-hitting, charismatic crowd favorite, who was lured to China with big appearance money, was the biggest disappointment of the day.
He missed the cut by a huge margin after his 76 left him 11 over for the tournament.
"The fairways were too narrow for me," the big-hitting American told reporters. "I had nowhere to hit the golf ball. This is not even fun for me."
Jacquelin, who led by two strokes at the same stage of last week's China Open, made the most of balmy afternoon conditions to stretch his overnight advantage by two shots with a steady round that included five birdies and a couple of bogeys.
"We've been really lucky this afternoon because the wind died on the back nine," Jacquelin said.
"I'm going to play exactly the same tomorrow... if the weather stays good we're going to have to go a bit low to win so the putter's going to have to be a bit hot," the Frenchman said.
Jacquelin was second in Portugal at the start of the month and led for the first two rounds before fading in Shanghai last week, but had no real explanation for his recent improved form.
"Just 10 years on the tour maybe?" Jacquelin said, whose sole triumph on the European Tour came in Madrid two years ago.
South African Els, who won this tournament by 13 strokes in 2005, continued to struggle with his putting and carded a second 71 for a share of 18th.
"Just not making the putts out there," the South African said.
"I am playing okay, just not scoring. A little frustrating. One bogey, two birdies, a bit of a boring round really," he said.
European Tour rookie Kyron Sullivan looked to be on for a 64 after an eagle and six birdies put him eight-under for the day approaching the 18th.
However, a double bogey at the last left him at three under.
"It was a shame as I really got it going with an eagle at the fifth," the 30 year-old Welshman said. "Holed a four iron from 187 yards into the wind."
Only Liang Wenchong and Zhang Liangwei of the 18 Chinese in the field will play this weekend.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but