Holywood star Tom McKibbin fired a three-under 69 to claim the clubhouse lead at halfway in the rain-delayed Singapore Classic.
The Newtownabbey talent (20) can become Irish golf’s youngest tour winner since clubmate Rory McIlroy won the Dubai Desert Classic aged 19 in 2009.
“Pretty solid,” said McKibbin, who followed four front-nine birdies at Laguna National with bogeys at the 11th and 13th before bouncing back with a birdie at the 14th. “I played very nicely most of the day, especially the front nine. A little bit colder on the back, overall a pretty good day.”
Torrential rain flooded the greens as he came down the stretch and while play was suspended as he prepared to play his approach to the last, he returned after a one-hour suspension to close with a par.
He was tied for the lead on 11-under with Chinese amateur Wenyi Ding (18), who made eagle twos at the fifth and 10th and was five-under for his round with three holes of his second round to complete. McKibbin and Ding led by one stroke from Germany’s Marcel Schneider, who shot 67 and former Ryder Cup player Andy Sullivan from England, who carded a 65. But Gary Hurley and John Murphy shot three-over 75s and will miss the projected cut on level-par and five-over, respectively.
On the Challenge Tour, Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell fired a six-under 66 on the Montagu Course to go into the weekend just three shots off the lead in the Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt. He’s tied fifth behind Swede Adam Bloome and South Africa’s Luke Jerling on nine-under par with Ruaidhri McGee joint 23rd on five-under following a one-over 73 on the Outeniqua layout.
In the Asian Tour’s International Series Oman, Graeme McDowell was tied 18th on one-over, five shots behind Japan’s Takumi Kanaya, after carding a level-par 72 in windy conditions at Al Mouj Golf.
Meanwhile, Tiger Woods will make his first appearance on the PGA Tour since The Open last July when he tees it up in next week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera. Woods withdrew from his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in November, citing plantar fasciitis.
