Tom McKibbin has followed up his sensational first round of 60 with an impressive five-under-par 65 to take the lead at the Hong Kong Open by two strokes.
The Holywood man is yet to drop a shot over his first 36 holes as he birdied five holes in his second round at Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling.
At 15 under, he leads American Peter Uihlein, and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Jazz Janewattananond by two, with Louis Oosthuizen, Charles Howell III and Thomas Pieters a shot further back. Graeme McDowell missed the cut on four under, despite a three-under-par 67 on Saturday as low scoring was the order of the day.
“Very, very solid day,” McKibbin said after round two. “Game played very, very similar to yesterday. Just didn’t hole as many putts. But yeah, very happy to keep the bogeys off the card.
“I’ve taken the approach of going into this week just to sort of play very aggressive and sort of just whatever the outcome is, come the end of the week, it is what it is.”
The winner of the Hong Kong Open will get a place in the Masters and the Open Championship next year as part of a new qualification process that includes national opens.
On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire is tied 34th after an improved round of 69 at the Maybank Championship, but at four under is 10 shots behind high-flying Hye-Jin Choi, who is five shots ahead of second place.
