TWO TIME winner Greg Chalmers took the second round lead of the 2014 Australian Open on Friday on a day when local favourite Adam Scott staged a big comeback and defending champion Rory McIlroy continued to prowl.
Chalmers, winner of the Stonehaven Cup at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney in 2011 and Royal Adelaide in 1998, shot a 5-under 66 to take a one shot lead over a crowded chasing pack.
McIlroy had a roller coaster round but closed with his second successive 69 to be tied second with Aussies Adam Crawford (69) and big hitting amateur Todd Sinnott (67); along with America’s Conrad Shindler (68).
First round leader Jordan Spieth (72) didn’t have a happy day – particularly after he grazed the hole on the par-three fourth only to have a volunteer marshal step on his ball on the fringe just 12 foot behind the flag.
Spieth took a drop but wasn’t happy with the resulting lie – or the resulting bogey.
The 21 year old American is still well in contention though at 3-under tied sixth along with Aussies Brett Rumford (69) and Geoff Drakeford (70).
Adam Scott was the big mover in the morning after his less than spectacular opening round. Scott shot a 5-under 66 to go into the weekend on 2-under tied ninth with five others.
His score was actually a course record on the revamped Australian Golf Club layout but as he said after finishing his round: “We’ll see how long that lasts.”
He correctly predicted it would be about five minutes, with America’s Jamie Lovemark signing for a 65 shortly afterwards.
Scott was just happy to be going into the weekend well in contention after maintaining the belief in his ability to peg back the leaders.
As for Chalmers, he was well aware the tournament was a long way from over.
“I think it’s very early to be talking about winning given who’s right behind me and who’s playing very well, very early to be thinking about what’s going to happen on Sunday night,” the 41 year old.
McIlroy is one of those lurking on a congested leaderboard ahead of what is shaping as a classic weekend of golf.
“I felt like I had an opportunity today to maybe shoot a good one and put a little bit of space between myself and the rest of the field but it didn’t really pan out that way,” said McIlroy. “I had six birdies and an eagle today. You eliminate the bad stuff and the bogeys and all of a sudden you turn that into a low score.” “I was happy with how I finished obviously, I was 4-under for the last five holes and came back well and still in a good position going into tomorrow.”
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