CHAWRASIA LEADS AS DUNNE STRUGGLES
SSP CHAWRASIA will take a two-shot lead into the weekend at the UBS Hong Kong Open after England’s Matt Fitzpatrick tumbled down the leaderboard on the second day. Fitzpatrick, who was looking to overcome a disappointing finish to last week’s DP World Tour Championship, began the day one shot behind overnight leader Chawrasia but struggled. A double bogey on the first set the tone and bogeys on the ninth, 11th and 14th holes contributed to a round of three-over 73, sending him sliding down to a share of 26th place, now eight strokes off the lead. Ireland’s Paul Dunne scraped into the weekend on the cut mark after a second 71. The Greystones player had a 6 on the 13th but kept it steady over the closing holes to hang on. India’s Chawrasia continued to set a strong pace with just one blemish — a bogey on the 14th — on his scorecard as he went round in 66 to move to nine under for the tournament. ‘It’s a great round today,’ Chawrasia said on the European Tour website. ‘I was five under at one time and then three-putted number 14 but, still, it’s a good score four under - I’m happy.’ Chawrasia sits two shots clear of Thomas Aiken, who had the best round of the tournament so far with a bogey-free 64. ‘That was a little better, it was a fun round of golf,’ Aiken said. ‘Just went out there with the same game plan as yesterday, hit some good-quality shots and really didn’t make many mistakes — that was the key.’ The South African has sole possession of second place, two shots clear of a fourman group at five under. Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth failed to cash in on his early start to the second round of the Australian Open but the world No.2 still feels he is very much in the hunt to retain the Stonehaven Cup over the weekend. The 24-year-old American had struggled to a fivebogey one-under-par 70 in the afternoon winds on Thursday but yesterday his usually reliable putting game failed him. Only a long birdie putt at his final hole for the second day in a row saved a par 71 for the three-times major champion.