The pride of Australian golf — Adam Scott — put himself in position to make a run at the Aussie Open title with a Friday 63 on the Victoria Golf Club.
Scott was sitting at the top of the leaderboard along with fellow Aussie David Micheluzzi, the first round leader who shot 71 for his second round on the Kingston Heath course.
The home country duo were three shots clear of their closest competition — Aussies Josh Geary and Haydn Barron and American Gunner Wiebe.
World no. 3 Cam Smith, winner of the Aussie PGA last week, barely made the 36-hole cut. Rounds of 71-73 put him at two-over par and he made the weekend on the number.
Scott was disappointed with his opening 71 on the Kingston Heath course but was looking forward to the final 36 holes.
“Yes, it’s frustrating but using the experience, I’ve had plenty of bad rounds in my career and had to come out the next day,” Scott said after signing for 63 on day two. “I also pride myself on kind of not throwing in the towel. I don’t rack up big numbers too often and I also don’t withdraw playing bad, so I’m here to win the tournament this week and it can turn around quick. I have that experience as well and it did today. Hopefully I can keep running in this direction tomorrow. It’s always nice when the tournament can take a lot of players out of it.
“If I can play well tomorrow (Saturday) and anyone else can come with and it’s only a few guys in it, that’d be a great position for Sunday. Then maybe I have some advantage from experience.”
On the women’s side, Hannah Green from the host country shot 66 at the Victoria Golf Club on day two and held the 36-hole lead at 11-under par. She was two shots clear of Jiyai Shin from South Korea and four ahead of first round leader Grace Kim, So Yeon Ryu and Ashleigh Buhai.
Thriston Lawrence Leads South African Open:
South African’s Thriston Lawrence added a 67 to his opening 64 at the Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Club outside Johannesburg and he’s the halfway leader at the South African Open.
Lawrence was 13-under par and two shots better than countryman Ockie Stryden, who had the day’s low round on Friday — a 63 that got him to 11-under.
Clement Sordet from France (68-66) and South African amateur Christian Maas (69-65) were in at 10-under par.
“I’m very comfortable with my game at the moment,” Lawrence said after his day’s work. “Just been giving myself a lot of chances (for birdie) out there.”
Later in the day, the afternoon wave was taken off the course and play suspended due to inclement weather. There was no one threatening Lawrence’s lead.
