Macau Open
Macau Golf Club
Macau
30th April - 3rd May 1998

Second Round Report

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First Round Report
First Round Scores

Zhang rides luck to share the lead with Lu

Macau, 1st May 1998 -  Chinese number one Zhang Lian-wei rode his luck over the challenging Macau G.C.C. today to take a share of the lead with Taiwan's Lu Wen-teh at the halfway mark of the Omega Tour's US$200,000 Macau Open.

With most of the front-runners failing to cope with the difficult, swirling breezes and deep rough, Zhang carded six birdies, one double bogey and two bogeys for a two under par 69. The former javelin thrower from Shenzhen heads the leaderboard with a one under par 141 aggregate, while Lu followed his opening 69 with a one over par 72.

The Chinese duo lead by a solitary shot from Venezuela's Gilberto Morales, one of only four players to shoot below par after posting a two under 69, and overnight leader Eric Rustand of America who returned a 73.

"Having played a skins event here before I probably know the course a little better than most of the other players, but I was also quite lucky out there today," said Zhang after completing his second round with Nick Faldo.

"It's a very tough course, and it helps if you have a little bit of luck, which I did on the 16th when I managed to save par with a 20 foot putt from just off the green."

After touring the front nine with a three under par 32, Zhang immediately dropped two shots when he fired a five iron over the 10th green into the long rough, from which he failed to get up and down. But the Chinese ace made amends with a four foot birdie on the par five 13th, and although he dropped another shot on the 15th, he birdied the difficult last after firing a sand wedge to within four feet of the flag.

Although he was one over the card, Lu had the most consistent round of the day, posting just two bogeys and one birdie over the 6,662-yard layout.

"I generally played well today, but unlike the first round, my putts just would not drop," said Lu, winner of the 1990 Thailand Open. "The windy conditions were also very similar to those on my course back home and I think this helped me a lot."

After touring the front nine with a three under 32, overnight leader Rustand looked set to establish a healthy lead. But disaster struck soon after the turn and the 1996 Pakistan Masters champion dropped six shots over the next four holes, before finding some consolation with a birdie on the par 5 18th.

A similar fate also befell the big-hitting South African Nico Van Rensburg, who was two under going into the 17th, before a pair of double bogeys saw him drop back to joint sixth place with five others.

Former world number one Faldo continued his poor run of form and could only manage a three over par 74. The six-times major champion lies in equal 16th place with fellow US PGA Tour player Vijay Singh of Fiji, who returned his second consecutive 73.

"The wind got up in the middle of the round before dropping off as soon as I finished, and the rough out there is also pretty severe," said Faldo after carding four bogeys and a solitary birdie.

"The cross winds made it very difficult and it doesn't help when you don't hole a putt all day. Maybe I'll go out and fire some balls into the ocean and see if I can hit some boats," he added before heading for the driving range which requires players to hit floating balls into a netted section of the South China Sea.