Given his penchant for winning from the front on The European Tour International Schedule, Adam Scott moved into a strong position when he grabbed a four shot lead at the halfway stage of the Johnnie Walker Classic at the Pine Valley Golf Resort & Country Club in Beijing.
The 24 year old Australian carded an excellent second round 66 to add to his opening course record 63 for a 15 under par total of 129 to move four shots clear of American Gary Rusnak, who posted a 65 for an 11 under par total of 133, and five ahead of South African Richard Sterne, whose 66 pegged him at ten under par 134.
When he won the Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club in 2002 by six shots, Scott was three shots clear at halfway: his ten shot win later that year in the Diageo Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles, saw him four ahead at the midway point: and when he won the Scandic Carlsberg Scandinavian Masters in 2003 by two shots, he held a share of the lead going into the final round.
Despite that impressive resume, the unassuming Aussie remained keen to play down any potential advantage he had built up over the field in the tri-sanctioned event between The European, Asian and Australasian Tours. “I have seemed to play well from the front but we still have a few holes of golf to play today and another long day tomorrow,” he said.
“Having said that, I’d like to keep out in front and have all the pressure on the rest of the field to come and catch me, and just let me play the golf the way I have been playing.”
Apart from a solitary dropped shot at the 11th where his two iron tee shot strayed into the rough from where he missed the green, Scott was flawless with seven birdies elsewhere, the “sweetest” one, in his own words, coming at the tough par three sixth where he holed from 15 feet. “I felt like I gained a shot and a half on the field there because that green is so difficult,” he said.
Second placed Rusnak, an Asian Tour regular since 1999, admitted such high prominence after an equal best of round 65, had come as a bit of surprise. “To be honest I have been playing kind of poorly this season so it is unexpected to be doing so well, but I am pleased obviously,” he said.
“I’m doing everything pretty well, hitting the driver straight and long and putting well. So I’ve just about had everything going for me today and as a result I’m playing as well as I can.”
Third placed Richard Sterne admitted his win in the Open de Madrid at the end of the 2004 season – a win which saved him a return to the Qualifying School – had been a big boost to his confidence, as had a stroll round with fellow countryman Ernie Els during The Big Easy’s practice round.
“I walked with him and I chatted,” said Sterne. “I don’t know him too well but I know him well enough to walk with him and I watched him play and he just made everything look so easy, you start to think that you should be able to do the same thing. Just talking to him made me feel better about my own game.”
The 23 year old almost had another very good reason to feel good, in the fact that he nearly holed in one at the 219 yard 12th, a shot which would have won him a brand new car, but his finely struck six iron ended a mere two and a half feet behind the pin.
“That would have been a nice way to start because I have never had a hole in one before but it wasn’t to be. But I was happy to make birdie to keep my round going,” he said.
Three players shared fourth place on nine under par 135, former champions Michael Campbell and Retief Goosen and the winner of last week's Jazztel Open de Espana en Andalucia, Sweden's Peter Hanson.
