2006 Omega China Tour Shanghai Leg

Happiness was in short supply among the leaders of the Omega China Tour – Shanghai Leg, with one notable exception. Amateur Fan Zhipeng maintained his share of first place at the end of the second round, but increased his slice of that pie as a variety of misfortunes wiped the smiles off the faces of most of the leader board at the Grand Shanghai Golf & Holiday Resort.

Fan, who is part of China's squad preparing for the Doha Asian Games, followed Thursday's 69 with a symmetrical 70 comprised of two birdies and a bogey on both the front and back nines. The Shenzhen-based 28-year-old leads on 5-under par together with Li Chao.

"I'm really happy because I put the ball on the fairway 10 out of 14 times," he said, unaware that that emotion was rapidly going out of fashion.

"Even though I bogeyed the third, I still stayed calm and played my game. I am a long hitter, so on almost every par 4 I can leave my second shot as a wedge, which gives me a big advantage. I'm delighted I made the decision to leave out my three wood and use my 52 degree wedge instead. That has helped me a lot."

Delighted was not a description one could apply to any of the other challengers. Despite rescuing his round with successive birdies on the 14 th, 15th and 16th holes, Li Chao left the 18th practising the one English word that he really has no need to rehearse after three-putting for par on the finishing hole. Despite his two-under-par 70, he hadn't had a great day after bogeys on two of the first four holes.

"I didn't make a good start, so I focussed on saving par on the rest of the front nine. I don't like doing it, but sometimes you just have to deal with it," said the 2005 Order of Merit winner, before explaining how much easier that task has become since he played alongside 37-year-old Thai Thammanoon Srirot in Hainan two weeks ago while the 5-time winner Asian Tour fought like a tiger to make the cut at the Crowne Plaza Open.

"He was all over the place on the front nine and had two double bogeys, but he still went for the greens on the back nine and even birdied the last one to be sure of making the cut," Li said of a player who has won over US$1 million on the Asian Tour. "That's probably been the biggest inspiration I've had recently. That is the reason why I have recovered from a bad start two days in a row and I believe that is something all the Omega China Tour players can learn."

According to Zhang Lianwei, who has sole possession of third place after a one-under-par 71 left him four under for the tournament, that's not the only thing the players need educating about. The 2006 Omega Order of Merit leader came off spitting feathers over etiquette.

"I had a horrible day because of my playing partner," he said, studiosly avoiding naming names.

"I've played with so many millionaires and powerful men and I don't care how rich or powerful they are, they have to be play with proper manners. In 24 years of my golf career I've never seen anything like this!" said the 41-year-old legend.

"As an international Chinese player I want to use this opportunity to advise my fellow players that bad manners are the one thing you should never learn in your golfing career."

Behind Zhang, joint first-round leader Wu Weihuang has slipped into a three-way tie for fourth place with Jimmy Qi Zengfa and Xiao Zhijin three shots behind the Li and Fan.

Wu managed one birdie all day as he struggled on the greens, but was still on course for a sub-par round until he plugged one into the lip of the bunker on 17 and carded a double-bogey.

"34 putts is definitely not what I had in mind! I missed all five birdie chances from 10 feet or closer. I am really, really angry!" he fumed.

"I was trying to keep myself calm, but I couldn't because I didn't putt any better on the back nine. All I could do was putt for par."

All the misery couldn't take the shine off the day for Fan Zhipeng whose fairy-tale debut on the Omega China Tour will scale new heights of fantasy when he tees off with Li Chao in the final group.

"Playing with Li Chao will be a good chance for me to learn, because I think the reason why I'm here is to learn how to focus and concentrate and to learn the ability of dealing with the pressure the way that Li Chao and Zhang Lianwei can."

Fan's reputation on the CITIC Forward Amateur Tour, backed up by his record of three second place finishes but no victories, has been one of faltering when the heat is on. But Fan has spent the past two weeks working with the government-sponsored Asian Games squad. That training has included the help of a sports psychologist, which might help him hold up next to one of the biggest names in Chinese golf.

Omega China Tour – Shanghai Leg

Leading Second Round Scores (Par 72)

139 – Li Chao 69-70, Fan Zhipeng (A) 69-70

140 – Zhang Lianwei 69-71

142 – Jimmy Qi Zengfa 72-70, Wu Weihuang 69-73, Xiao Zhijin 70-72

143 – Chen Yu 71-72, Liao Guiming 69-74

144 – Wang Lei 71-73

145 – Cui Xiaolong 73-72, Fu Xin 76-69, Gu Cuilin 70-75, Huang Yonghuan 73-72, Liu Guojie 72-73, Meng Qingpeng 73-72, Shang Lei 70-75

146 – Gu Shutao 73-73, Huang Mingjie 74-72, Wang Huiqiang 71-75, Yuan Hao 75-71, Chen Jian 75-71, He Yongjian 74-72

September 1, 2006