Clarke Slips Back as Fraser Leads

Victorian Marcus Fraser will head into the third round of the Australian PGA Championship with a two-stroke lead thanks to his Friday 65 at Coolum, but there are a host of big names, including Bubba Watson, Robert Allenby and Adam Scott, lurking in the chasing pack.

With seven birdies in a flawless round, Fraser capitalised on favourable conditions to move to 11 under and top billing ahead of American Presidents Cup star Watson, who led by two shots himself when he reached the turn before stumbling on the back nine, leaving him to be content with a four-under 68.

Three strokes adrift of Fraser is another player who impressed last week at Royal Melbourne, South Korean KT Kim (67), while his compatriot and 2009 US PGA champion YE Yang (68), who led before being overtaken in the afternoon, shares fourth on seven under with triple PGA winner Allenby (68), Scott (67) and John Senden.

Fraser's 65 didn't earn him the low round of the day though, with Senden taking those honours by recovering from his opening-round 73 with a superb 64 that for a long time looked like being several shots lower.

Senden looked on track to surpass the course record of nine under set by Min-kyu Han, who shot 62 two years ago when Coolum was a par-71 layout, but after briefly entertaining thoughts of what could have been possible, he ran out of steam.

After his early heroics on day one, Jason Day had a steadier round as he grabbed three birdies in a 69 to move to six under, leaving him alongside Stuart Appleby (68), Leigh McKechnie (70), Kieran Pratt (70), Anthony Summers (68), Kurt Barnes (69), Josh Geary (70), Aaron Townsend (71) and Shih-chang Chan (69).

Appleby's round could have been just about anything too after he birdied his first five holes of the day but a double bogey at 16 and bogey at 18 threatened to derail his momentum before he steadied coming home on the front nine with two further birdies.

Joint overnight leader Steven Bowditch, who led by three strokes midway through the morning, gave back four shots on the front nine as he slumped to a 73 and five under, where he is level with Aaron Baddeley (72), Doug Holloway (69), Marc Leishman (69) and Joon-woo Choi (73).

Like Bowditch before him, Choi improved his overnight score from six to nine under with a hat-trick of birdies through his first seven holes but he also dropped four shots overall from there as he battled, none more so than at the last where he had a triple-bogey seven.

Peter Fowler and Australian Open champion Greg Chalmers both shot 69 to be among those tied for 22nd at four under, and Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Norman and Nick O'Hern also signed for that score to be equal 28th at minus three with Alistair Presnell (68) and Aron Price (72).

British Open champion Darren Clarke (73) will start his third round nine off the pace and defending champ Peter Senior (73) from 10 back while Andre Stolz (77) and Mathew Goggin (73) will just make the cut at even par but Craig Parry (83) will have the weekend off.

Two back overnight, Fraser grabbed his initial birdie at the 5th, sparking a run of three in four holes, and after adding another at 11 repeated the effort from the 13th to overtake a faltering Watson, whose final five holes read bogey, bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie.

Senden picked up seven shots in as many holes with five birdies and a hole in one at the par-three 2nd, remarkably the same hole playing partner Chalmers also aced on Thursday.

Like Scott 24 hours earlier, Baddeley had an up and down round.

After slumping to even par with two double bogeys and a bogey in his first seven holes as Appleby was shooting the lights out, Baddeley then birdied six of his next eight holes to close within one of the lead only to give one of the shots back at the 8th.

Ireland Share World Cup Lead

A four under par 68 helped Irish pairing Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy catch Australians Richard Green and Brendan Jones as the two nations claimed a share of the halfway lead at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup after an enthralling second day foursomes session.

Australia were two clear overnight after a blistering 61 in the fourballs, but had to scrap hard for a 70 in the more demanding foursomes format. 

Having birdied the second and bogeyed the fourth, the duo from Down Under had a slice of good fortune when Green chipped in from a bunker at the fifth - turning a likely bogey into a birdie in the process. 

There was no luck involved at the sixth, however, as Jones sent a brilliant second shot to 15 feet and left-hander Green sunk the resulting eagle putt. 

The three-time European Tour winner holed from a similar distance at the 13th but two bogeys over the closing stretch left the event wide open. 

“The important thing for us is that we are still at the top, and everybody is chasing us and we are chasing Ireland now,” said Jones. “We can't win the tournament today, but we sure could have fallen back in the field. 

“So just to be in the position we're in, we've got to take the positives out of that, and I think tomorrow we'll get out and both of us get some rhythm back in our game and play a more attacking game. 

“It's all about limiting your errors in this game, and I think we pretty much did that. A couple of times we slipped up, but that's just the way it is.” 

Green added: “We spoke about our strategy last night, and in foursomes especially we decided that anything under par is going to do all right. So a 70 today achieved that goal I guess. 

“A little bit of a shame to have finished with a bogey, but it's a very difficult finish to this golf course and a very demanding hole, 18. Hopefully we can work that out for the weekend and not do that on Sunday.” 

It was Ireland’s past and present US Open Champions who took advantage, the pair responding to three-putt bogeys on the 11th and 13th with six birdies, the last of which came at the driveable 16th when McDowell splashed out to two feet. 

“I think both of us are very pleased about the score that we ended up shooting today,” Said World Number Two McIlroy. “I think anything in the 60s in the foursomes format is a very reasonable score out there. 

“There is still a lot of golf to be played this week, so it will be nice to get out there tomorrow again and enjoy the fourballs and be aggressive and make a few more birdies. I think we are very pleased with how today went and looking forward to the weekend.” 

Ireland started the week as the bookies’ favourites, and 32 year old McDowell insists there is more to come over the weekend. 

“Alternate shot is a very difficult format,” he said. “We struggled to find our rhythm a little bit on the front nine. Rory really putted well today, which kept things together. 

“I've struggled a little bit on the greens the last couple of days, but I was happy the way I swung the club in general today again and Rory is playing lovely. 

“Looking forward to getting back out there into better balls tomorrow where we can both play a little bit more aggressively and get in our rhythm better. But very, very happy with that performance today - four under par in this format is a pretty good effort.” 

Only six shots separate the top 20 teams, with Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and Martin Laird in third on 12 under - Laird’s missed five foot par putt at the last producing their only bogey and denying them a share of the lead. 

Spain, New Zealand and the United States are fourth on ten under, Alvaro Quiros and Miguel Angel Jiménez combining for a bogey-free 69 that included an eagle at the 16th after big-hitting Quiros drove to within 20 feet. 

England, The Netherlands and surprise package Mexico are nine under, with hosts China amongst a group of nine teams one further back.