Julien Quesne of France stormed to the top of the leaderboard halfway through the Volvo China Open yesterday, with compatriot and defending champion Alexander Levy in second place.
Quesne fired a blistering five-under-par on the second day of the US$3.2 million tournament, with six birdies and a bogey to finish the round on eight-under overall.
The score left him one stroke ahead of Levy and American Peter Uihlein overall at the Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club.
Levy birdied on six of the first 13 holes before crumbling on the 16th, driving into a bunker and then the water to record a double-bogey.
The 24-year-old scored a bogey on his next hole — after finding the sand from the tee — but finished strongly with another birdie.
Uihlein fired five birdies before finishing in style with an eagle on the final hole.
The pair are ahead of a group of six players on five-under, including Chinese No. 1 Li Haotong and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
Aphibarnrat said he was full of confidence coming off a win a week earlier.
“I’m not driving the ball as well as I did last week, but the rest of my game is in pretty good shape, especially my short game,” he said, according to information released by the organizers. “I’m still feeling good. I’ve been getting lots of rest and eating well, so I’m feeling fine and ready to go.”
Taiwan’s Lawrence Ting was well below the projected cut according to the European Tour’s Web site last night. His second-round 79 on the par-72 course was three strokes better than his first-round effort, but it still left him in 149th place overall on 17-over 161.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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