Ireland's Rory McIlroy moved to within two shots of the Hong Kong Open lead this morning after a six-under-par 64. The Holywood golfer joins a number of players - including Singapore Open winner Jeev Milkha-Singh who shot a 63 - in pursuit of Oliver Wilson, Oliver Fisher, Chawalit Paphol and Louis Oosthuizen.
The latter shot the round of the day with a 62, while England's Wilson and Plaphol of Thailand signed for a second 66 each at the Hong Kong Golf Club.
Fisher finished a little later with a 65.
McIlroy's fellow Ulstermen Gareth Maybin and Graeme McDowell are two under and one under repsectively, while Paul McGinley shot a 69 to move to level par. It should be good enough to see the Dubliner make the cut, just.
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Much of the focus will be on teenage amateur Jason Hak, who became the youngest player to make the cut at a European Tour event after successive 70s ensured he made it through to the weekend.
The 14-year-old from Hong Kong beat the record set by current world number two Garcia by 107 days.
Twenty-year-old Fisher started the day three shots behind overnight leaders Liang Wen-chong and Richard Sterne but carded a five-under-par 65 to join compatriot Oliver Wilson, South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen and Chawalit Plaphol of Thailand at eight under.
Fisher picked up birdies at the second, fourth and sixth and added two more coming home in a flawless display.
"It is very good," said Fisher. "I played very solidly today and I am in a good position going into the weekend."
Also looking for his first win on the European Tour is Wilson, who lost out in a play-off to Sergio Garcia at the recent HSBC Champions.
Wilson carded six birdies and two bogeys for a second consecutive 66 and the Ryder Cup player said: "I'm obviously pretty happy with the first two days. It has gone according to plan so far."
Oosthuizen produced the best round of the tournament with eight birdies and no bogeys in a 62, his lowest score on the European Tour and just one shot
outside the course record.
"I've been playing well for the last seven months really but I just can't get that final edge in," said Oosthuizen.
Colin Montgomerie is looking to secure his second victory in Hong Kong and ensured he remains in contention with a 65 containing six birdies and one bogey. That left the Scot in a five-strong group just one off the lead on seven under par.
"I feel very comfortable here," he said. "I won here before in 2005 and it is a place I feel comfortable with.
"I like the city and feel very safe here and it is amazing how one plays well in a place that you enjoy being in."
Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez narrowly avoided the cut after carding a 69 to lie level par.
Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour UBS Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling, Hong Kong
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold, par 70):
132Oliver Wilson 66 66, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 62, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 66 66, Oliver Fisher 67 65
133Francesco Molinari (Ita) 66 67, Colin Montgomerie 68 65, Johan Edfors (Swe) 68 65, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 67 66, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 64 69
134Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 63,
Rory McIlroy 70 64, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 65 69
135Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 69 66, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 64 71
136John Daly (USA) 68 68, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 69 67, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 68 68, Iain Steel (Mal) 68 68, Angelo Que (Phi) 68 68, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 70 66, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 69 67
137Frankie Minoza (Phi) 65 72, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 69 68, David Frost (Rsa) 69 68, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 70 67, Wen Teh Lu (Tpe) 68 69, Peter Hanson (Swe) 67 70, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 69 68, Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi) 67 70, Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 66 71, Darren Beck (Aus) 68 69, David Gleeson (Aus) 72 65, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 67, Martin Rominger (Swi) 71 66, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 70 67, Tony Carolan (Aus) 70 67, David Dixon 68 69
138 Gareth Maybin 71 67,Jamie Donaldson 75 63, Scott Drummond 68 70, Wook-Soon Kang (Kor) 69 69, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 67 71, David Bransdon (Aus) 70 68, Gavin Flint (Aus) 68 70, David Lynn 71 67
139Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 70 69, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 67 72,
Graeme McDowell 71 68, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 68, Scott Strange (Aus) 71 68, Ben Leong (Mal) 69 70, Unho Park (Aus) 71 68, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 69 70, Taichiro Kiyota (Jpn) 72 67, Taco Remkes (Ned) 69 70, Paul Lawrie 69 70, Phillip Archer 72 67, Jong Yul Suk (Kor) 70 69, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 71 68, Bradley Dredge 69 70
140Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 70 70, Zaw Moe (Kor) 72 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 70, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 69, Anthony Kang (USA) 70 70, Anthony Wall 72 68, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 70 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 69, Shun yat jason Hak (Hkg) 70 70, Joong Kyung Mo (Kor) 69 71, Sattaya Supupramai (Tha) 71 69, Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 70 70, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 71 69, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 71 69, David Horsey 70 70, Paul Waring 72 68, Mark Brown (USA) 70 70, Marcus Both (Aus) 68 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 69, Jean Van de velde (Fra) 73 67, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 71 69,
Paul McGinley 71 69
-------------------The following players failed to make the cut--------------------
141Christian Cevaer (Fra) 69 72, Young-Woo Nam (Kor) 69 72, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 69, Mars Pucay (Phi) 72 69, Chris Rodgers 68 73, Scott Hend (Aus) 70 71,
Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 68 73, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 68 73, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 70 71
Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 68 73, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 68 73, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 70 71
142Nick Faldo 72 70, Simon Dyson 71 71, Simon Khan 74 68, Paul Broadhurst 72 70, Lee Slattery 70 72, Sung Lee (Kor) 75 67, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 71 71, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 67 75, Keith Horne (Rsa) 73 69, Richard Lee (Can) 76 66
143Inn-choon Hwang (Kor) 68 75, Airil Rizman (Mal) 70 73, Phillip Price 71 72, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 72 71, Scott Barr (Aus) 71 72, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 74 69, Sam Little 71 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 71
144Robert Rock 73 71, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 73 71, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 73, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 73 71, Simon Griffiths 70 74, Simon Hurd 72 72
145Gary Simpson (Aus) 71 74, Steve Webster 74 71, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 70 75, Marcel Siem (Ger) 74 71, Mark Foster 72 73, Simon Wakefield 74 71
146Yasin Ali 70 76, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 74, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 72 74, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 78 68, Keng-chi Lin (Tai) 71 75
147Prom Meesawat (Tha) 74 73, Roderick De lacy staunton (Hkg) 70 77, Jovick Lee (Hkg) 79 68, Adam Groom (Aus) 74 73
148Daniel Chopra (Swe) 71 77, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 76, Matthew Mcbain (Aus) 75 73, Steven Lam (Hkg) 74 74, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 74 74, Miles Tunnicliff 73 75, David Freeman (Hkg) 74 74
149Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 74 75, Adam Blyth (Aus) 73 76
150Digvijay Singh (Ind) 73 77
151Paul Riley 76 75
157Derek Fung (Hkg) 78 79
161James Stewart 78 83
