Rick Gibson leads at halfway

Canadian Rick Gibson soared into the halfway lead at the US$1.2 million UBS Hong Kong Open on Friday with big Scot Colin Montgomerie moving ominously up the leaderboard.

Gibson, an old hand in Asia, tamed the famous composite course at Hong Kong Golf Club with a four-under-par 66 in the second round and opened up a one-stroke lead over American left-hander Edward Loar, who surged into second place with a course-record equalling 64.

Martin Erlandsson of Sweden is a further stroke back in third place while Korea 's Kang Wook-soon, the first round leader, scrambled for a 70 for fourth place alongside England 's Andrew Butterfield.

It was however Montgomerie, an eight-time European Tour number one, who made the biggest move with a bogey-free 66 as he ended the second day in tied sixth place, four off the pace.

The 44-year-old Gibson has played in Asia since the early 1990s with great success and conceded that Montgomerie will be the man to beat. " He's the highest ranked player in the world here and I'm sure he'll be in the mix on Sunday. I don't think he's won here yet. All I can do is play my game. I'm sure he'll be there come Sunday," said Gibson, who has a two-day total of nine-under-par 131.

But if Gibson keeps hitting fairways and greens regularly like he has been doing the past two days, the Manila-based Canadian will fancy his chances of lifting the UBS Hong Kong Open, which is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

He sank five birdies against a lone bogey with some crisp iron play and credited a three-week layoff from Tour for his success so far. Gibson, whose last win was the 2002 Philippine Open, was also delighted to make a huge par save on his last hole, the ninth after hooking his approach into a sand trap.

" I have felt relaxed and overnight, I felt very relaxed although I'm right in the hunt after the first round. I just feel comfortable on this golf course and I'm making some putts. I just came off three weeks at home and I went back to practice on some things which I haven't practiced on for the last few years.

"I hit a lot of irons shots from out of fairway bunkers and it seems to have helped me with crisp iron shots which is what you need around Fanling. It's not very long but if you're not positioning your ball with the irons you could be in for a long day," said Gibson.

Montgomerie, ranked 17th in the world, felt he could have gone a lot lower and came tantalisingly close on numerous occasions. "Well it is always nice not to drop a shot but four birdies was disappointing in the way I hit the way and how close I hit the ball. So yes it is a reasonable score, but disappointing in many ways that it wasn't better," said Montgomerie.

"At least it has given me an opportunity to score low tomorrow and get into contention on Saturday night which is my goal in any tournament and we will see how we go tomorrow but it is set up for a better day tomorrow after that 66 today."

Starting from the 10th, he birdied the par three 12th and picked up further shots on the 17th and seventh. While Gibson was scrambling to save par on the ninth, a superb seven iron to five feet at the challenging 474-yard par four ninth was particularly pleasing for the man known as Monty as he "picked up a shot and a half on the field".

'"That hole is a very difficult hole. At 474 yards, the par four used to be a par five for the members and you have to hook it round the corner which isn't really my shot and I seem to tend to run through the fairway. My seven iron came out perfectly and ran on to about five foot and I holed it which really is about a shot and a half on the field because the hole is playing the most difficult on the course," said Montgomerie.

Overnight leader Kang, the last Asian winner in Hong Kong , struggled to find any rhythm on the greens and needed two late birdies to salvage his day with a 70. He will enter the weekend rounds three shots off the lead.

"My putting was a struggle and it was only in the last three holes when it all came together," said the two-time Asian number one. "It was good to finish the round on even par and I'm only three shots back. I'll need to spend more time on the practice greens," said Kang.

Loar is looking to add the UBS Hong Kong Open to his Thailand and Korean Open wins. He got out from the blocks superbly with four straight birdies and reeled in four more birdies against two dropped shots.

"I got off to a hot start. What can you complain about? The golf course is in great shape, the weather was absolutely perfect and there was hardly any wind out there. It was a good day for scoring and I took advantage of it," said Loar.

With the UBS Hong Kong Open being the penultimate event on the Asian Tour, the Order of Merit battle intensified with Thailand 's Thongchai Jaidee staying a shot ahead of current merit leader Thaworn Wiratchant.

Thongchai fired a second straight 68 for tied 11th place on 136 while Thaworn also carded a 68 for equal 15th place. " I would like to finish in the top three here to catch Thaworn. I hope to take it to the finish line next week (at the season ending Volvo Masters of Asia in Bangkok ). I feel good about my game now," said Thongchai, a two-time Asian Tour number one.

It will be a nervous wait for players battling to finish inside the top-60 of the Asian Tour Order of Merit to keep their cards and earn a place in next week's season-ender. Japan 's Eiji Mizoguchi, who currently sits on the bubble, agonizingly missed the halfway cut by one stroke despite a 70.

American Greg Hanrahan, who celebrated his 200th appearance in an Asian Tour event, also missed the cut by five shots and will have to return to Qualifying School next month.

Chinese Taipei's Lin Keng-chi, who sits in 62nd place on the merit list, and 64th ranked Amandeep Johl of India lived to battle for another day after qualifying for the weekend rounds. Lin fired a 69 for tied 15th place while Johl made it right on the 141 cut line after a 69.

Leading second round scores

131 - Rick Gibson (CAN) 65-66

132 - Edward Loar ( USA ) 68-64

133 - Martin Erlandsson (SWE) 65-68

134 - Andrew Butterfield (ENG) 69-65, Kang Wook-soon (KOR) 64-70

135 - Francois Delamontagne (FRA) 66-69, Colin Montgomerie (SCO) 69-66, Scott Strange (AUS) 71-64, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 66-69, Marcus Both (AUS) 67-68

136 - Marc Cayeux (ZIM) 68-68, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 68-68, Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 65-71, Miguel Angel Jiménez (ESP) 69-67

137 - Lin Keng-chi (TPE) 68-69, Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 69-68, Jose Manuel Lara (ESP) 67-70, James Kingston (RSA) 68-69, Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 69-68

138 - Peter Gustafsson (SWE) 69-69, Simon Yates (SCO) 69-69, Adam Le Vesconte (AUS) 68-70

Miles Tunnicliff (ENG) 68-70, Simon Dyson (ENG) 71-67, Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 69-69, Thammanoon Srirot (THA) 71-67, Pablo Del Olmo (MEX) 68-70, Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 69-69, Mo Joong-kyung (KOR) 70-68, Richard Bland (ENG) 70-68, Robert-Jan Derksen (NDL) 69-69, Thomas Björn (DEN) 70-68, Barry Lane (ENG) 68-70

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