WELLINGTON, Feb 11: Sweden's Niclas Fasth equalled the course record of nine-under-par 63 on Friday to grab a two-shot lead after the second round of the New Zealand Open at the Gulf Harbour Resort course near Auckland.
Fasth made three eagles and three birdies in a spectacular round to reach the halfway stage of the championship ahead on 16-under-par 128.
SECOND ROUND SCORES:
128 Niclas Fasth 65 63
130 Miles Tunnicliff 67 63
131 Oliver Wilson 66 65
132 Simon Nash 65 67, Jarrod Moseley 66 66
133 Jose Manuel Lara 66 67, Richard Green 70 63, Steven Bowditch 64 69, Garry Houston 66 67, Robert Karlsson 68 65, Damien McGrane 67 66, Rolf Muntz 67 66
134 Paul Sheehan 67 67, Phillipe Lima 68 66, Steve Alker 69 65
135 Marcus Fraser 68 67, Joakim Haeggman Sweden 65 70, Marcus Cain 68 67, Chris Hanell.
MICKELSON GRABS LEAD
TORONTO: Phil Mickelson fired a tournament record 10-under 62 to grab the clubhouse lead in the first round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Thursday.
Mickelson, fresh from a five-stroke victory at last week's Phoenix Open that included a course record-equalling 11-under par 60, carried his momentum to California's Monterey Peninsula.
He carded a bogey-free round at Spyglass Hill golf club, one of three courses used for the $5.3-million event, for his 62, the lowest round in the history of the tournament first played in 1937. The U.S. Masters champion holds a three shot edge over Charles Howell III and Kevin Sutherland who opened with seven-under 65s.
FIRST ROUND SCORES
62 Phil Mickelson
65 Charles Howell III, Kevin Sutherland, Hunter Mahan, Davis Love III, Daniel Chopra
66 Mike Weir, Mario Tiziani, Dicky Pride
67 Ted Purdy, KJ Choi, Greg Owen, Andrew Magee, Paul Goydos, Todd Hamilton, Tim Clark
68 JP Hayes, Bubba Dickerson, Dean Wilson, Charlie Wi, Graeme McDowell, Ryan Palmer, Lee Westwood, Arjun Atwal, Jim Carter, Tom Scherrer, Steve Pate, Todd Fischer, Richard S Johnson. -Agencies
