Fox makes run as Dodt reclaims Oz PGA lead

Queenslander Andrew Dodt has reclaimed the lead of the Australian PGA Championship from Victorian Ashley Hall and has a three- shot buffer after the second round on the Gold Coast.

Dodt fired a five- under 67 yesterday, putting him three shots clear of Hall at the top of the leaderboard at 12- under for the week.

World No 7 Adam Scott i s t wo shots further back from Hall — tied with Kiwi Ryan Fox for third — after the Australian played what he claimed to be his best round of the summer with a second consecutive four- under.

Fox, who finished tied for fourth at the Australian Open last month, followed up his first round five- under 67 with a three- under 69 yesterday.

Fellow Kiwi Danny Lee, who partnered Fox in the New Zealand team at last week's World Cup of Golf in Melbourne, shot a one- over 73 to be two- under for the tournament.

A double bogey on 13 sent Lee tumbling, and a further bogeys on 16 and 18 dropped him to one- over for the day and two- under for the tournament.

“It was a good day to do it because it wasn’t that easy,” Scott said. “My striking was crisp at the ball. It was strong. I started driving the ball properly and it carried onto the rest of my game as well.”

However, it will be Hall who will be left to rue a triple bogey that ultimately cost him the lead on Friday morning.

After starting on the back nine, he was down to 11- under before he triplebogeyed the par- 4 fourth when he hit it into a hazard off the tee, then went into the bunker before three putting.

But despite the disappointment on the same hole he eagled in the first round, he birdied two of his last five to rebuild his lead — carrying on the momentum of taking Jordan Spieth to a playoff in last month’s Australian Open.

“I’ve just found something in the last week or so, especially in the Australian Open,” he said. “I’ve found something in my swing and it seems to be going well.”

He wasn’t the only golfer to blow a lead yesterday.

Harold Varner III is now fifth after he started the second round in a tie at the top, before he went clear with a birdie on the 12th after starting from the back nine. Then it fell apart.

Consecutive double bogeys, first on the par- 5 15th and then on the par- 3 16th dropped him back to a tie for sixth before he rebounded to birdie three of his last five holes.

Meanwhile, Nathan Holman’s tournament defence is over as he is eight- over for the first two rounds and is almost certain to miss the cut.

The same fate fell on Olympian Marcus Fraser who finished his second round at four under for the tournament.