American Luke Guthrie remained in the driver’s seat and extending his lead to four shots on day two of the BMW Masters at Lake Malaren in Shanghai.
Guthrie is competing in his first-ever regular European Tour event and the Hugo Boss backed player continues to make the most of his invitation.
He had bee three clear of the field overnight after a flawless opening 65 and quickly extended his advantage with a birdie on the first when play resumed in slightly calmer conditions on Friday.
The 23 year old’s lead fluctuated throughout the round and was finally reduced to a single shot when Simon Dyson birdied the par five 15th, only for Guthrie to follow with his own birdie minutes later in the group behind.
Dyson then ran up a double-bogey six on the 18th after needing two shots to escape from a greenside bunker, while Guthrie holed from 20 feet for a birdie on the 17th.
That took the American five ahead and although he dropped a shot on the last, a second round of 71 gave him a halfway total of eight under par and a great chance of claiming the title in his first regular European Tour outing.
“It was another difficult day out there,” said Guthrie. “Anything in the red was another good number and I was able to manage one under.
“I made a few more mistakes out there, made a few bogeys, which was a little disappointing. It’s never fun to bogey the last hole, but it’s playing tough.
“I hit a lot of good shots, a lot of things to build on. I made two great swings on 17 and 18 with irons to finish, and build on that going into tomorrow.
“I was in good form coming here; got a tie for fifth over in Las Vegas on the PGA Tour, and been hitting it really well.”
Dyson was among six players sharing second on four under, with Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez carding the lowest round of the day – a 67 – that featured six birdies and just one bogey on the 18th.
Scott Jamieson’s only bogey of the day also came on the 18th as he returned to a 68, while fellow Scot Craig Lee holed out from 188 yards on the 16th for an eagle in his round of 70. Lee had already pulled his putter out of the bag before realising his ball had run back down a slope beyond the pin and into the hole.
“Just when I was starting to get a bit frustrated about not moving forward, then bang! I hole a four iron straight into the wind from 188 yards,” said Lee.
“Always helps the scorecard, especially from a birdie on the hole before, so it was great.”
Irish Open winner Paul Casey, Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and Dyson all carded rounds of 70 for the second day in succession to complete the six-way tie, with Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello alone in eighth on three under.
Former World Number Ones Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy are seven shots off the lead on one under, with Race to Dubai leader Henrik Stenson two over after a 74.
Stenson has a lead of €425,573 over Graeme McDowell on the money list, the Northern Irishman also shooting 74 to finish level par.
* Thanks to www.europeantour.com
