Luke Guthrie remained the man to catch after the second round of the BMW Masters in Shanghai, extending his lead to four shots on a rollercoaster day at Lake Malaren.
Guthrie was three clear of the field overnight after a flawless opening 65 and quickly extended his advantage with a birdie on the first when play resumed in slightly calmer conditions today.
The 23-year-old’s lead fluctuated throughout the round and was finally reduced to a single shot when Simon Dyson birdied the par-five 15th, only for Guthrie to follow with his own birdie minutes later in the group behind.
Dyson then ran up a double-bogey six on the 18th after needing two shots to escape from a greenside bunker, while Guthrie holed from 20ft for a birdie on the 17th.
That took the American five ahead and although he dropped a shot on the last, a second round of 71 gave him a halfway total of eight under par and a great chance of claiming a first European Tour title.
Rory McIlroy (72) is best placed of the Irish contingent on one under par, seven shots behind the leader with Graham McDowell (74) on level, the same mark as Padraig Harrington (72). Paul McGinley (71) is six over for the tournament with Shane Lowry (70) one shot further back.
Dyson was among six players sharing second on four under, with Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez carding the lowest round of the day — a 67 — that featured six birdies and just one bogey on the 18th.
Scott Jamieson’s only bogey of the day also came on the 18th as he returned to a 68, while fellow Scot Craig Lee holed out from 188 yards on the 16th for an eagle in his round of 70. Lee had already pulled his putter out of the bag before realising his ball had run back down a slope beyond the pin and into the hole.
Irish Open winner Paul Casey, Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and Dyson all carded rounds of 70 for the second day in succession to complete the six-way tie, with Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello alone in eighth on three under.
Former world number ones Lee Westwood and Rory McIlory are seven shots off the lead on one under, with Race to Dubai leader Henrik Stenson two over after struggling to a 74.
Leaderboard
136 Luke Guthrie (US) 65 71
140 Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 73 67 Scott Jamieson (Britain) 72 68 Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 70 70 Paul Casey (Britain) 70 70 Craig Lee (Britain) 70 70 Simon Dyson (Britain) 70 70
141 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 73 68
142 Brett Rumford (Australia) 73 69 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 71 71 John Daly (U.S.) 68 74
143 Ian Poulter (Britain) 74 69 Marcus Fraser (Australia) 73 70 Lee Westwood (Britain) 72 71 Francesco Molinari (Italy) 72 71 Rory McIlroy (N Ireland) 71 72 Gregory Bourdy (France) 70 73 Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) 70 73
144 Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) 75 69 Pádraig Harrington (Ireland) 72 72 David Horsey (Britain) 72 72 Maximilian Kieffer (Germany) 72 72 Graeme McDowell (N Irleand) 70 74 Peter Uihlein (U.S.) 69 75
145 Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 75 70 Ross Fisher (Britain) 75 70 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 73 72
146 Martin Kaymer (Germany) 75 71 Richard Sterne (South Africa) 74 72 Danny Willett (Britain) 74 72 Garth Mulroy (South Africa) 74 72 Matthew Griffin (Australia) 74 72 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 72 74
147 Peter Hanson (Sweden) 79 68 Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 76 71 Luke Donald (Britain) 75 72 Eduardo De La Riva (Spain) 75 72 Paul Lawrie (Britain) 74 73
148 Branden Grace (South Africa) 79 69 Paul McGinley (Ireland) 77 71 Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 77 71 Raphael Jacquelin (France) 76 72 Hu Mu (China) 75 73
149 Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 79 70 Shane Lowry (Ireland) 78 71 Felipe Aguilar (Chile) 77 72 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 74 75 Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 74 75 Wu Ashun (China) 73 76 Tommy Fleetwood (Britain) 72 77
150 Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 80 70 Thomas Aiken (South Africa) 80 70 Li Haotong (China) 78 72 David Howell (Britain) 76 74 Liang Wenchong (China) 75 75 Alejandro Canizares (Spain) 75 75 Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 74 76 Alexander Noren (Sweden) 74 76 Marc Warren (Britain) 73 77 Julien Quesne (France) 73 77 Huang Wenyi (China) 71 79
151 Su Dong (China) 76 75 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 74 77
152 Marcel Siem (Germany) 81 71 Steve Webster (Britain) 79 73 Zhang Lianwei (China) 78 74 George Coetzee (South Africa) 78 74
153 Victor Dubuisson (France) 78 75 Simon Khan (Britain) 77 76 Ricardo Santos (Portugal) 77 76 Zhang Xinjun (China) 76 77
154 Li Xinyang (China) 77 77
155 Liu Yanwei (China) 78 77
156 He Shaocai (China) 83 73 Huang Mingjie (China) 81 75
162 Chris Wood (Britain) 79 83
163 Li Xuencheng (China) 85 78
