Australians dominate the top of the leaderboard in the ANZ Championship at the New South Wales Golf Club in Sydney with European Tour Members Nick O’Hern and Terry Price joined by compatriots Nathan Green and Brendan Jones on 22 points after the second round.
Three more Australians – Richard Lee, Jarrod Moseley and Craig Parry are a further point back alongside Englishman Gary Evans, the only non-Australian in the top eight.
Price, a graduate from the 2002 European Tour Qualifying School, shot a 67 for 12 points to take his total to 22, a score matched by left-hander O’Hern. Jones also shot a 67 but, under the modified stableford format, collected 14 points with Green shooting 66 for 13 points.
The best round of the day among the leaders came from Jarrod Moseley who collected 18 points with an aggressive round of 64, a score bettered only by Mikko Ilonen's 63 for 19 points, to surge into contention at the top of the leaderboard. After amassing only three points during the first round, Moseley's combined total of 21 left him just one shot off the lead.
The format encourages attacking golf and the 1999 Heineken Classic Champion, who recorded six top tens on The European Tour International Schedule last season on his way to finishing 45th in the Volvo Order of Merit, made crucial birdies on the 15th and 18th and an eagle on the 12th.
A birdie wins two points, an eagle five and with a par being zero and a bogey only minus one, the onus is on the players to attack the pin.
Moseley shares 21 points with Evans and WGC – NEC Invitational Champion Parry, who lost his inspired touch around the greens but still managed a 70 worth seven points.
Evans made a blistering start, birdieing his first four holes to more than double his points tally as he raced on to 15.
The 14th and 17th had caused him trouble in the first round, but he parred both and though he then bogeyed the first, his tenth, Evans made an eagle three on the par five fifth followed by a birdie on the sixth to jump to 21 points.
Green has struggled to find form over the past few season and last year played 25 tournaments on the Buy.com Tour in the United States but made only five cuts. But he is helping to set the pace after picking up seven birdies and just the single bogey to score 13 points.
Jones, meanwhile, enjoyed a bumper year on the Japanese Tour, finishing eighth in the order of merit and claiming the rookie of the year title. His first round was a faultless 68 that earned him eight points from four birdies and though he was erratic on Friday, he benefited from the scoring system.
Three bogeys were cancelled out by the six birdies and an eagle on the par five fifth, a round that translated into 14 points.
