HONOLULU (Hawaii), Jan 18: South Africa’s Retief Goosen, who had shared the overnight lead, was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Australian Aaron Baddeley after the second round of the $4.5 million Hawaii Open on Friday.
Goosen carded a four-under-par 66 for a total of 130 while Baddeley fired a six-under 64 to finish on the same score.
South African Ernie Els (65), Australian Peter Lonard (65) and American Chris DiMarco (66) were all one shot adrift on 131 with Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama (66) another stroke back. American Briny Baird was alone on 133.
Goosen, who won last year’s BellSouth Classic and the 2001 US Open, started the day in style with three birdies in a row.
But his progress was stifled by the strong afternoon wind as he recorded only two more birdies and one bogey over the remaining 15 holes.
He was fortunate on the last hole, the par-five 18th which borders the driving range on the left side. Goosen pulled his drive left and his ball was only a couple of feet from going out of bounds.
The 21-year-old Baddeley is familiar not only with playing in big tournaments, but with winning them against quality competition.
He has won three Australasian Tour events in his short career, including two Australian Opens. One of those Open titles came when he was an amateur.
In the process, Baddeley has beaten some of the best players in the world — Greg Norman, Sergio Garcia, Robert Allenby and Colin Montgomerie.
Joint overnight leader Kenny Perry fell back with a 71 for a total of 135.
Leading second round scores (US unless stated):
130 — Retief Goosen (South Africa) 64, 66; Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 66, 64.
131 — Peter Lonard (Australia) 66, 65; Chris DiMarco 65, 66; Ernie Els (South Africa) 66, 65.
132 — Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 66, 66.
133 — Briny Baird 68, 65.
134 — Tim Herron 68, 66; Harrison Frazar 67, 67; Chris Riley 65, 69; Jim Furyk 67, 67; Fred Funk 66, 68; Brenden Pappas (South Africa) 65, 69.
135 — Kenny Perry 64, 71; Robert Gamez 66, 69; Tim Petrovic 68, 67; John Cook 67, 68; Loren Roberts 67, 68; Corey Pavin 67, 68; Tag Ridings 70, 65; Anthony Painter (Australia) 69, 66.
136 — Andrew Magee 71, 65; Brent Geiberger 70, 66; Jerry Kelly 68, 68; Jeff Sluman 68, 68; Joe Durant 67, 69; Chris Smith 66, 70; Charles Howell III 70, 66; Chad Campbell 66, 70; Yasuharu Imano (Japan) 67, 69.
DOWNES TWO SHOTS AHEAD
AUCKLAND: Australian Chris Downes fired a three-under-par 69 to move two strokes clear of the field after the third round of the New Zealand Open on Saturday.
Downes, who had shared the lead overnight with compatriot Alan Patterson, finished with a total of 206, 10 under par. New Zealanders Mahal Pearce (69) and Gareth Paddison (70) were tied for second place on 208 with another home favourite, Michael Campbell, on 209 after a five-under 67.
American Darrell Kestner shared fifth position with Australian Wayne Grady on 210, one ahead of Japan’s Kix Kawahara, New Zealand amateur Chris Johns, Australian Brendan Jones and Patterson.
Leading third round scores (New Zealand unless stated, a-denotes amateur):
206 — Chris Downes (Australia) 67, 70, 69.
208 — Mahal Pearce (New Zealand) 69, 70, 69; Gareth Paddison (New Zealand) 69, 69, 70.
209 — Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 69, 73, 67.
210 — Wayne Grady (Australia) 68, 75, 67; Darrell Kestner (US) 68, 74, 68.
211 — Kix Kawahara (Japan) 73, 72, 66; a-Chris Johns (New Zealand) 72, 70, 69; Brendan Jones (Australia) 69, 70, 72; Alan Patterson (New Zealand) 66, 71, 74.
212 — Wade Ormsby (Australia) 70, 74, 68; Marcus Fraser (Australia) 70, 72, 70; Brett Rumford (Australia) 68, 73, 71.
213 — Scott Gardiner (Australia) 73, 74, 66; Peter Fowler (Australia) 72, 72, 69; Michael Long (New Zealand) 72, 71, 70; David Smail (New Zealand) 69, 70, 74.—Reuters