Two errant shots on the penultimate hole by first-round leader, Australian Kurt Barnes, led to a three-way tie at the top after 36 holes in the $US600,000 HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship at the Clearwater course, Christchurch, today.
Barnes came to his 17th hole, the course’s par-4 372m eighth, at 11-under par and it had been a flawless round to date with three birdies and 13 pars.
But by his own admission he hit his worst two shots of the week, double-bogeyed it, and allowed New Zealand lefthander, Gareth Paddison, and unheralded American, Josh Teater, to join him atop the leaderboard at nine-under par at halfway.
Barnes was in control until that fateful hole, giving himself a lot of birdie chances but watching most slide by. He had 23 putts in the first round and 31 today. At 17 he hooked his drive into tussocks, took an unplayable, then pushed it into the right hazard. He did well to hit the green from a plugged lie and two-putted for a six.
``But I’m playing nicely and my confidence is riding high. I’ll be working my butt off again tomorrow.’’
Paddison, 28, is the first New Zealander to be in the lead at halfway in the eight years of the tournament. He backed up an opening five-under 67, which included a double-bogey on the last hole, with 68 today.
``I was a bit nervous seeing my name up on the leaderboard but it was a nice feeling,’’ he said.
Most of his birdies were from less than 2m and he showed admirable resolve after dropping a shot at his par-5 opening hole, which left him ``absolutely seething.’’
He was relieved to slot a 2m par-saving putt at the last after missing a tiddler for birdie at the previous hole. ``That was a crucial putt for me,’’ he said. To finish four-under today and nine-under for the tournament I can’t complain.’’
Teater, who matched Paddison’s 67 amd 68, said he hit the ball better today than in the first round and he made a flying start.
``Making three birdies right off the bat gets you going good.’’ He added a fourth at the ninth and turned in four-under 32, but he mixed two more birdies with two bogeys on the back nine.
The trio has a one-shot lead over double champion Peter O’Malley, from New South Wales, and American Steve Friesen, while seven players were just two off the lead on seven-under. They included New Zealand’s Josh Geary, who shared the best round of the day with a seven-under 65.
Young New Zealand amateur Danny Lee was another stroke back and tied for 13th after a 67.
Once the brisk north-easterly died down midway through the morning, conditions were again ideal for low scoring and the cut was at three-under, the lowest yet since the first championship in 2002. Sixty-three players made the cut.
HSBC New Zealand PGA second round scores
Scores after round 2 of the NZ PGA Championship being played at the par 72, 6513 Metres Clearwater GC course (a- denotes amateur):
135: Gareth Paddison (NZL) 67 68, Josh Teater (USA) 67 68, Kurt Barnes (AUS) 64 71.
136: Steve Friesen (USA) 69 67, Peter O'Malley (AUS) 69 67.
137: David Branshaw (USA) 66 71, Michael Sim (AUS) 71 66, Craig Bowden (USA) 69 68, Kevin Johnson (USA) 70 67, Matthew Griffin (AUS) 69 68, Josh Geary (NZL) 72 65, Michael Wright (AUS) 71 66.
138: Gavin Coles (AUS) 70 68, Scott Dunlap (USA) 67 71, Ryan Hietala (USA) 71 67, Jason Norris (AUS) 73 65, Scott Hend (AUS) 68 70, Brad Kennedy (AUS) 71 67, Ryan Hammond (AUS) 65 73, Danny Lee (am, NZL) 71 67, Richard Lee (NZL) 69 69, Justin Hicks (USA) 69 69, Nick Flanagan (AUS) 71 67, Brian Stuard (USA) 70 68.
139: Brad Shilton (NZL) 70 69, Tripp Isenhour (USA) 72 67, Steve Alker (NZL) 69 70, David Smail (NZL) 68 71, Stephen Dartnall (AUS) 72 67, Geoffrey Sisk (USA) 72 67, Craig Parry (AUS) 71 68, Adam Bland (AUS) 69 70.
140: Bradley Hughes (AUS) 73 67, Peter Senior (AUS) 69 71, Roger Tambellini (USA) 69 71, Joe Daley (USA) 70 70, Paul Marantz (AUS) 71 69, Chad Ginn (USA) 71 69, Ryan Haller (AUS) 73 67, Alex Prugh (USA) 73 67, Rich Barcelo (USA) 70 70, Dustin Risdon (CAN) 71 69, Aaron Townsend (AUS) 73 67.
141: Andre Stolz (AUS) 67 74, Paul Sheehan (AUS) 70 71, Paul Gow (AUS) 69 72, Jeff Gove (USA) 70 71, Andrew Tschudin (AUS) 69 72, Hunter Haas (USA) 72 69, Henrik Bjornstad (NOR) 71 70, Drew Laning (USA) 70 71, Len Mattiace (USA) 69 72, Michael Clark II (USA) 69 72, John Riegger (USA) 70 71, Alistair Presnell (AUS) 67 74, Brenden Pappas (USA) 71 70, Ashley Hall (AUS) 71 70, David McKenzie (AUS) 70 71, Anthony Brown (AUS) 72 69, Garth Mulroy (RSA) 71 70, Steven Jones (AUS) 70 71, Gary Christian (ENG) 72 69, Adam Crawford (AUS) 68 73.
142: Jeff Brehaut (USA) 71 71, Bryan DeCorso (CAN) 68 74, Joon Choi (KOR) 77 65, Justin Bolli (USA) 72 70, Chad Collins (USA) 71 71, Jeff Gallagher (USA) 71 71, Won Joon Lee (AUS) 69 73, Jonas Blixt (SWE) 67 75, Tony Carolan (AUS) 71 71, Michael McGrath (AUS) 73 69, Jason Enloe (USA) 66 76.
143: Brad Elder (USA) 73 70, Bubba Dickerson (USA) 73 70, Matthew Every (USA) 71 72, Mahal Pearce (NZL) 74 69, Douglas LaBelle (USA) 74 69, Miguel Angel Carballo (ARG) 75 68, Jim Rutledge (CAN) 71 72, Seung-su Han (KOR) 72 71, Jon Mills (CAN) 70 73, Wade Ormsby (AUS) 70 73, Phil Tataurangi (NZL) 70 73, Ian Leggatt (CAN) 70 73, Richie Gallichan (AUS) 72 71, Jason King (AUS) 72 71, Major Manning (USA) 67 76.
144: Martin Piller (USA) 75 69, Dustin White (USA) 74 70, Scott Laycock (AUS) 73 71, Skip Kendall (USA) 74 70, Trevor Dodds (NAM) 71 73, D.J. Brigman (USA) 71 73, Peter Wilson (AUS) 74 70, Craig Scott (AUS) 73 71, Leigh McKechnie (AUS) 70 74, Clint Rice (AUS) 73 71, Richard Johnson (WAL) 74 70, Michael Long (NZL) 74 70, Paul Claxton (USA) 71 73, Jim Herman (USA) 73 71, Kyle Reifers (USA) 72 72, Tristan Lambert (AUS) 70 74, Anthony Summers (AUS) 71 73.
145: Jamie Arnold (AUS) 72 73, Andrew Buckle (AUS) 72 73, Heath Reed (AUS) 72 73, Brennan Webb (CAN) 75 70, Bret Guetz (USA) 74 71, Cameron Percy (AUS) 75 70, Garrett Osborn (USA) 77 68, Vance Veazey (USA) 75 70, Michael Putnam (USA) 68 77, Jared Pender (NZL) 74 71, Bronson La'Cassie (AUS) 74 71.
146: Andrew Bonhomme (AUS) 71 75, Ron Whittaker (USA) 73 73, Steven Conran (AUS) 75 71, Stuart Bouvier (AUS) 72 74, Chris Nallen (USA) 75 71, Brad Lamb (AUS) 76 70, Daniel Summerhays (USA) 70 76, Bob May (USA) 73 73.
147: Steven Bowditch (AUS) 73 74, Grant Waite (NZL) 78 69, Grant Moorhead (NZL) 73 74, Ryan Armour (USA) 73 74, Bradley Iles (NZL) 71 76, Dominic Barson (NZL) 74 73, Jim McGovern (USA) 73 74.
148: Tim Wood (AUS) 75 73, Bob Sowards (USA) 72 76.
149: Todd Demsey (USA) 76 73, John Kimbell (USA) 76 73, Craig Spence (AUS) 77 72, Tony Christie (NZL) 75 74.
150: Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 78 72, Tee McCabe (USA) 74 76, Garth Domigan (NZL) 74 76, Doug Holloway (NZL) 73 77, Steve Wheatcroft (USA) 75 75, Fran Quinn (USA) 75 75, Michael Brennan (AUS) 74 76.
151: Terry Price (AUS) 72 79, Peter Fowler (AUS) 72 79, Jin Park (KOR) 74 77, Tim Wise (AUS) 77 74.
153: Peter Nolan (AUS) 78 75, Chris Gaunt (AUS) 77 76, Michael Moore (AUS) 80 73, Andrew Searle (NZL) 78 75.
154: Kyle Thompson (USA) 78 76, J.J. Killeen (USA) 75 79.
159: Joseph Sykora (USA) 79 80.
-3 (141) was the final cut, 63 players made the cut
