Dasmarinas: Scott Barr of Australia produced another solid round of four-under-par 68 for a two-shot lead over countryman Ryan Bulloch in the second round of the ICTSI Orchard Golf Championship on Thursday.
Play was stopped due to darkness at 6.30pm with three more flights set to resume their rounds at 7am on Friday. The penultimate round of the US$60,000 Asian Development Tour (ADT) event will start no later than 8.30am.
Englishman George Thacker shot a 71 for joint third place with Singaporean Quincy Quek, who shot a 68 for a 137 total to trail Barr by three shots at the Orchard Golf and Country Club.
Antonio Lascuna, was the best placed Filipino at the halfway mark. He turned in 33 but tumbled to a 38 due to a double bogey on the 13th hole to settle for fifth place.
Taking advantage of ideal scoring conditions, Barr shot three birdies on the 11th, 14th and 15th holes before dropping a shot on 18. He added two more birdies on his homeward nine to settle for a two-day total of 10-under-par 134.
The Singaporean-based Barr, who was in contention in last week’s Aboitiz Invitational before falling off the pace in the last two rounds, is determined not to repeat the same mistakes.
“My putting and chipping served me well. The fairways were still tough but the greens were okay. There’s still a lot of golf left and I have keep my ball in play and in perfect position to have birdie opportunities,” said Barr, who is playing on a sponsor’s invitation.
He said a victory in the eighth event of the ADT this year will be a good tune-up for the power-packed second half of the Asian Tour.
“I would want to head there on a winning note,” he added.
Bulloch, currently in second place on the ADT Order of Merit, completed a total of 24 holes as he returned on Thursday morning to finish the first round before firing five birdies for a 67 and 136 total in the halfway stage.
“The fairways dried a bit in the afternoon and that helped. I wish that it’ll be sunny tomorrow as well. I will try to be comfortable in the early holes on Friday to get the birdie rhythm. The key is to keep the ball on the fairway and hit the greens in regulation,” explained Bulloch, who is a former greenskeeper in Perth.
The ICTSI Orchard Golf Championship is the eighth leg of the ADT this season. The stature of the ADT will grow even more significantly in 2013 as it will receive Official World Golf Ranking points.
From more details, please visit www.asiandevelopmenttour.com
Leading second round scores
134 - Scott BARR (AUS) 66-68
136 - Ryan BULLOCH (AUS) 69-67
137 - George THACKER (ENG) 66-71, Quincy QUEK (SIN) 69-68
138 - Antonio LASCUNA (PHI) 67-71
139 - Rufino BAYRON (PHI) 70-69
140 - Mitsuhiko HASHIZUME (JPN) 68-72, Carl SANTOS-OCAMPO (PHI) 68-72
141 - Unho PARK (AUS) 71-70 , LIN Kuan-po (TPE) 72-69
142 - Elmer SALVADOR (PHI) 71-71, Peter RICHARDSON (ENG) 72-70, George GANDRANATA (INA) 71-71, KIM Gi-whan (KOR) 72-70
By Indian Sports News Network
