Goosen & Campbell share clubhouse lead

Former champions Retief Goosen and Michael Campbell endured a marathon day to grab the second round clubhouse lead alongside in-form Peter Hanson at the US$2.35 million Johnnie Walker Classic, Asia's richest event, on Friday.

On a day when the star-studded cast played catch-up at Pine Valley Golf Resort and Country Club following Thursday's disruptions because of high winds, the leading trio played 36 holes and finished atop the leaderboard on nine-under-par 135.

Australian Adam Scott was also on nine-under, but played only eight holes this morning to finish off his first round with a course record 63. The world number 10 produced a stunning finish of birdie, eagle, birdie, the last with a chip-in. He is slated to start his second round on Saturday morning.

Thailand 's Chawalit Plaphol flew the Asian Tour's flag in the tri-sanctioned event with the European Tour and PGA Tour of Australia . The smooth-swinging Chawalit cruised to eight-under for the tournament, one off the pace, but failed to finish his last hole of the second round when darkness descended. Chinese Taipei's Chen Yuan-chi was a further stroke back through 14 holes of his second round.

Only 42 players completed two rounds with the remainder of the field having to return at 6.30am on Saturday to resume their rounds.

South Africa 's Goosen, ranked fifth in the world, played his first round in the morning with a 68 before firing an accomplished 67 in the afternoon. "It was a long day, a difficult one as the wind was variable today. I'm happy to be where I am and hopefully by tomorrow I'm only four behind (Scott). I struggled with the green speed and it could have easily been an eight under round if I had made some putts. But we were lucky that we got off the tee at the last before the sun went under. I'm glad I finished," said Goosen, winner of Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth in 2002.

Campbell, winner of this event in 1999 in Taipei , has been struggling all season and his only cut made was coincidently in China last month where he finished tied 12th at the TCL Classic on Hainan Island . The Kiwi subsequently took four weeks off to work on his game and reaped the rewards today with rounds of 68 and 65.

"After my start this season, it's nice to come back after a month off and play well. I have been working with my coach full time this year. I played great the first round this morning and shot the worst two under in the world, just being a little bit rusty. But I knew I was good enough to shoot a low one in the afternoon and it was quite an easy seven under, to be honest," said Campbell whose 65 was matched by Swede Hanson, the winner in Spain last week.

While the likes of Campbell and Goosen were toiling away with 36-hole sessions, the 24-year-old Scott had only a couple of hours of work on the course in the morning, playing his remaining eight holes of the first round in six under. He even had time to visit the nearby Great Wall of China .

In near benign conditions in the morning, a stark contrast to Thursday's unplayable conditions, Scott was in hot form. He snared back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes and then finished in style. The Aussie birdied the seventh hole from two feet, nailed a sensational four iron to within inches of the pin for a tap-in eagle on the eighth and wrapped up his round in style with a chip-in birdie at the ninth hole. His 63 bettered the previous course mark held by Filipino Gerald Rosales by two shots.

"I was up early at 4.30am . I'm going back to bed now," joked Scott, who has won on the US PGA Tour this season. "Two different days (with the conditions) but my game stayed the same. I played great yesterday and hit a pretty good score and this morning, I kept swinging in the same rhythm. I got off to a good start this morning with two birdies and finished with a flurry. Things were just going my way."

Chawalit is making another charge in China . Last month, he challenged for honours in Hainan before finishing third, one shot behind a play-off won by Paul Casey. The Thai, a graduate of Johnnie Walker's innovative Rising Stars programme in the 1990s, was delighted to be on the board.

"I'm happy with my score but my putting has been a let down. I still think about my missed opportunity but I'm swinging well here, so I'll give it another go. It was a long day and I do enjoy this course as I finished top-20 here last year in the Volkswagen Masters – China ," said Chawalit, who is hoping to join compatriots Thongchai Jaidee and Thaworn Wiratchant as winners of European Tour-sanctioned events this season.

Some of the other event's top stars sparkled, with world number eight Sergio Garcia of Spain finishing his first round with a 67 while South Africa 's Ernie Els, the event's top draw, battled to a 71, finishing off his remaining nine holes in three under and then saying that the change in weather was "just crazy."

Scotsman Colin Montgomerie shot a second round 70 to lie in tied seventh place with Thai Prayad Marksaeng and England 's Miles Tunnicliff, who have two and four holes of their second rounds to play.

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