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| February 11, 2006 | Saturday | Muharram 12, 1427 |
Golf: Flawless Choi surges two-stroke clear
PERTH, Feb 10: South Korea’s K.J. Choi fired a flawless six under par 66 in the second round of the Johnnie Walker Classic on Friday, opening up a two-stroke lead at the top of the leaderboard.
Choi moved to 13 under par for the tournament in extremely hot conditions at the Vines Resort course, two clear of first round co-leader Kevin Stadler of America.
The Australian trio of defending champion Adam Scott, Richard Green and Tony Carolan sit at nine under, with British pair Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher a shot further back.
Choi, who is on course to become the first ever Asian-born Johnnie Walker champion, started the second round two strokes behind Scott and Stadler, but burst clear with four birdies on his outward nine and a pair coming home.
“I feel really good with my putting and my iron game, and I haven’t missed many shots and just playing good golf and making birdies,” he said.
Since playing in the 1999 Heineken Classic in Perth, the powerful South Korean has won three times on the PGA Tour, including the 2005 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, and six times around the world.
Stadler, the son of former U.S. Masters champion Craig, recorded an eagle and two birdies in his 69 for an 11 under par tally.
Stadler teed off in the afternoon amid scorching conditions, but kept himself in contention for his second win since clinching December’s Centenary Argentine Open, a feat his father achieved in 1992.
Defending champion Scott bogeyed his second and third holes to drop back to six under par but the Australian regrouped with three birdies in four holes mid-round to end with a 71.
Poulter was delighted to be in with a chance of capturing his first win since clinching the European Tour’s 2004 season-ending Volvo Masters.
Leading second round scores:
131 - KJ Choi 65-66
133 - Kevin Stadler 64-69
135 - Tony Carolan 66-69, Adam Scott 64-71, Richard Green 66-69
136 - Gavin Flint 72-64, Stephen Leaney 70-66, Ian Poulter 70-66, Peter Senior 68-68, Scott Gardiner 70-66, Ross Fisher 69-67, Francesco Molinari 71-65
137 - Stephen Gallacher 71-66, Paul Casey 68-69, Robert Allenby 69-68
138 - Gary Simpson 75-63, Marcus Fraser 67-71, Fred Couples 71-67, Craig Parry 68-70, Prayad Marksaeng 72-66, Chris Campbell 71-67, Nick O’Hern 67-71, Brett Rumford 67-71
139 - Anthony Wall 72, 67, Leigh McKechnie 73-66, Mark Foster 70-69, Andrew Marshall 70, 69, Shiv Kapur 68-71, Peter O’Malley 69-70, Raphael Jacquelin 70-69, Paul Sheehan 69-70, Richard Finch 72-67, Ter-Chang Wang 73-66, Steve Webster 71-68, Kim Felton 71-68
140 - Nick Flanagan 72-68, Oliver Wilson 72-68, Terry Pilkadaris 68-72, Ian Garbutt 71-69, Gary Emerson 70-70
141 - Jarrod Moseley 71-70, Joakim Haeggman 70-71, Stephen Allan 72-69, Ewan Porter 67-74, Sam Little 70-71, Cameron Percy 71-70, Ryan Haller 72-69, Robert Karlsson 72-69, Angel Cabrera 73-68, David Diaz 69-72, John Bickerton 72-69, Soren Kjeldsen 70-71
Donald sets pace
PEBBLE BEACH (California): Britain’s Luke Donald led the course record at Spyglass Hill with a10-under-par 62 to take a one-shot lead in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am first round on Thursday.
The 28-year-old Englishman reeled off eight birdies and an eagle at the par-five 14th, where he holed out with a sand-iron from 96 yards, in almost perfect conditions on the Monterey Peninsula.
Ryder Cup player Donald, who got to six under after six holes, matched the 62 fired by Phil Mickelson at the same venue in the opening round of last year’s tournament.
Canada’s Mike Weir, the 2003 U.S. Masters champion, was alone in second place after shooting a 10-birdie 63 at the hosting Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Left-hander Weir was impressed by Donald’s performance over the toughest of the three venues.
First round scores:
62 - Luke Donald
63 - Mike Weir)
65 - Michael Allen, Arron Oberholser, Nick Watney
66 - Greg Chalmers, Tim Clark, Brian Davis, Darron Stiles
67 - Mark Brooks, John Cook, Harrison Frazar, Fredrik Jacobson, Brendan Jones, Greg Kraft, JL Lewis, Phil Mickelson, Corey Pavin, Brett Quigley, a-Bo Van Pelt, Charles Warren
68 - Arjun Atwal, Vijay Singh
69 - Gavin Coles, Graeme McDowell, David McKenzie, Rory Sabbatini
71 - Henrik Bjornstad, Daniel Chopra, Mathew Goggin, Jose Maria Olazabal, Paul McGinley, Camilo Villegas, Jon Mills
72 - Jesper Parnevik, John Senden, Esteban Toledo, Tjaart Van Der Walt.—Agencies
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