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Wu Ashun fired a second-round 66 at the KLM Open to open up a three-shot lead over England's Jonathan Thomson in the Netherlands.
The Chinese golfer held a one-shot advantage after day one in Spijk and carded seven birdies and two bogeys to get to 12 under, although Thomson threatened to overshadow him with a brilliant birdie run.
The 22-year-old holed a 40-foot putt on the 10th and then made six birdies in a row to turn in 28 and raise hopes of a first round of 59 in European Tour history.
Thomson – at six foot nine, the tallest player in European Tour history – found the hazard on the first and a bogey stalled his momentum, eventually coming home in level par 35 to sign for a 64.
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After losing in a playoff in Denmark recently, Thomson is edging closer to keeping his place on Tour for next season, quite an achievement for a rookie who battled leukemia for five years as a child.
“I am hitting some great form and playing well, my confidence is also getting higher and higher and that’s all that matters to me at this part of the season,” he told europeantour.com.
“Experiences like I had in Denmark are invaluable and every single week you have to go out and just draw on them.”
Wu is a two-time winner on the European Tour and made birdies on the first, second, sixth, 10th, 12th, 16th and 17th to go with bogeys on the fifth and 15th.
Another Chinese player in Li Haotong was at eight under alongside Scot David Drysdale, with England's Chris Wood a further shot back.
Pádraig Harrington carded a one-under 70 in his second round to move to four under and a share of 21st position.
Paul Dunne dropped five shots over his first three holes after starting double-bogey, double-bogey, bogey to go out in six-over 41.
Although he carded four birdies in five holes on his back nine, including three-in-a-row from the second, he ended one shot outside the cut on level par after completing a one-over round of 72.
LEADERBOARD
(British and Irish unless stated, Par 71, (a) denotes amateur)
130 Ashun Wu (Chn) 64 66
133 Jonathan Thomson 69 64
134 Haotong Li (Chn) 68 66, David Drysdale 69 65
135 Chris Wood 65 70, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 66 69, Soomin Lee (Kor) 68 67
136 Renato Paratore (Ita) 66 70
137 Matthew Baldwin 70 67, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 70 67, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 71 66, Ashley Chesters 66 71, Bradley Neil 66 71, Paul Peterson (USA) 68 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 68 69, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 66 71, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 67 70, Jordan Smith 66 71, Bradley Dredge 70 67, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 68
138 Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 67 71, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 67 71, Daniel Im (USA) 72 66, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 69 69, Richard McEvoy 67 71, Matthew Southgate 66 72, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 69, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 68 70, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 70 68, Sam Horsfield 69 69, Austin Connelly (Can) 68 70, Eddie Pepperell 66 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 68, Pádraig Harrington 68 70, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 66 72
139 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 66 73, Steve Webster 69 70, Matthew Nixon 67 72, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 67 72, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 68 71, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 69 70, Henric Sturehed (Swe) 67 72, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 66 73, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 67 72, Adam Bland (Aus) 69 70, Andrew Sullivan 71 68, Connor Syme 69 70, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 73 66, Lee Westwood 68 71
140 Richard Bland 70 70, Matthew Jordan 70 70, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 67 73, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 69 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 70, Max Albertus (Ned) 69 71, Chase Koepka (USA) 69 71, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 70 70, Kevin Stadler (USA) 66 74, Sam Brazel (Aus) 69 71
141 Richie Ramsay 68 73, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 73 68, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 74 67, David Horsey 69 72, Josh Geary (Nzl) 72 69, Scott Jamieson 73 68, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 70 71, Simon Khan 70 71, Mark Reynolds (Ned) 73 68, Justin Walters (Rsa) 69 72, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 71, Thomas Detry (Bel) 74 67, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 69 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 73
Missed cut
142 Andrew Johnston 74 68, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 72, S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind) 70 72, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 70 72, Nick Cullen (Aus) 70 72, James Morrison 69 73, Aaron Rai 66 76, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 71 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 71, Sebastien Gros (Fra) 69 73, Paul Dunne 70 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 72 70, Pedro Oriol (Esp) 67 75
143 Lasse Jensen (Den) 71 72, Mark Tullo (Chi) 71 72, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 70 73, Pep Angles (Esp) 71 72, Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 71, Rak hyun Cho (Kor) 74 69, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 71 72, Gavin Green (Mal) 69 74, (a) Jerry Ji (Ned) 70 73
144 Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 73, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 69 75, Nacho Elvira (Esp) 68 76, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 75 69, Pontus Widegren (Swe) 70 74, Charlie Ford 71 73, Clement Sordet (Fra) 74 70, Paul Waring 74 70, Koen Kouwenaar (Ned) 74 70, Scott Fernandez (Esp) 69 75, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 69 75, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 72, Ryan Evans 72 72, Chris Hanson 71 73, Davey Porsius (Ned) 74 70, Reinier Saxton (Ned) 73 71
145 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 75 70, Luke Joy 72 73, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 73 72, Laurie Canter 72 73, David Howell 73 72, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 70 75, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 76 69
146 Phachara Khongwatmai (Tha) 67 79, Steven Brown 69 77, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 72 74, Jeff Winther (Den) 72 74, Oliver Fisher 69 77, Oliver Farr 71 75
147 Ross Fisher 77 70
148 Jamie Elson 74 74, Jurrian Van Der Vaart (Ned) 72 76, Lukas Euler (Ger) 75 73
149 Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 79, Oscar Serna (Mex) 73 76, Robbie Van West (Ned) 73 76, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 73 76, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 74 75, Luca Cianchetti (Ita) 75 74
150 Christofer Blomstrand (Swe) 77 73, Kim Koivu (Fin) 73 77
151 Kiet Van Der Weele (Ned) 77 74, David Lipsky (USA) 80 71, Ralph Miller (Ned) 72 79
152 Dylan Boshart (Ned) 76 76, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 77 75, Marc Warren 76 76
154 Jason Norris (Aus) 70 84, Simon Dyson 74 80
156 Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 78 78
162 Maarten Bosch (Ned) 80 82
163 (a) Stan Kraai (Ned) 78 85
169 Aydan Verdonk (Ned) 83 86
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