Shilton, Lyle head NZ Strokeplay field at halfway
IN: News | New Zealand Mens Amateur | New Zealand Amateur Championship (2004) | Round Two | 20 Apr 2004
Overnight leader Brad Shilton, from Te Awamutu, was caught but not passed at the halfway mark in the New Zealand men's 72-hole stroke-play championship at the Taupo Golf Club's Centennial course today.
A blistering six-under par 66 this morning by Victorian Jarrod Lyle enabled him to finish the day at five-under par 139, a total matched by Shilton who backed his first round 68 with a one-under 71.
A shot behind were seasoned Auckland representative Franz Schwanner, who had the second-best score today of 68 and home-club hope Jason McIntosh, who has had a brace of 70s.
Fifth equal, just two strokes from the pace, are accomplished Australians, Andrew McKenzie, winner of the coveted Indooroopilly Jug last year, and 19-year-old Western Australian Michael Sim.
Eighty-one of the 160 players made the cut, at seven-over 151, and have qualified for the last two rounds of stroke play and for the match-play title which starts on Friday. Young Nelson golfer Jonti Philipson missed the cut but was rapt after holing in one with a No. 3 iron on the 177m par-3 sixth.
Shilton, the New Zealand stroke-play champion two years ago, was quite content signing for a sub-par round after "hitting it everywhere". He had only three birdies, compared with seven in the first round, but he played some fine recovery shots from difficult positions and kept the damage to a minimum.
At the 15th (his sixth hole) he put his tee shot out of bounds, but put his approach with the second ball to 1.5m and holed that for one of his two bogeys in the round. At the next he chipped in for birdie.
Lyle, however, was in the birdie business, especially on the front nine which was his homeward half. He started off the 10th tee and turned in par 35 after a bogey at his first hole and a birdie at the par-5 11th.
Eight straight pars followed before he started his birdie flow which ran four holes. His fifth birdie on the front nine came at the 535m par-5 seventh and he birdied the eighth for good measure to complete the half in 31.
Lyle, 22, was fourth in the Australian stroke-play championship at Royal Adelaide last month before losing the match-play final to fellow Victorian Andrew Martin, 2 and 1. The Victorian Institute of Sport attendee who is on his first visit to New Zealand believes his round could have been truly sensational, "I missed about seven putts from under 10 feet."
Schwanner turned in even par 37 after two birdies and a double bogey at the 177m par-3 sixth. But he went to four-under with an eagle at the par-5 11th and birdies at 12 and 14, and he held that to the end.
McIntosh, five times the senior club champion at Taupo, is under pressure to perform before home supporters and he has not disappointed. He started shakily and was three over at the turn, but he roared home in five-under par.
Veteran Australian Lester Peterson, who won the New Zealand match-play final when the championships were last played at Taupo in 1989, qualified with rounds of 76 and 71.
Source - NZGA
