Chris Taylor or “Buffy” as he is known on tour, has torn the Port Moresby Golf Club record apart by carding a 9 under par round of 63 in the second round of the South Pacific Export PNG Open.

After starting the day in 11th place after a first round 74, Taylor piled on six birdies on the front nine including five in a row heading to the back nine. He then made birdies on the 11th, 12th and 16th to not only finish with a bogey free round of 63 but smashing the previous course record of 65 set by Queenslander great Terry Price.

“I was really hot out there today and I think it helped me take the round, one shot at a time and not get to ahead of myself,” said Taylor.

Taylor has never won the PNG Open before and with a two shot lead heading into the third round, he is looking forward to the challenge of taking it out for the first time.

“I have been coming here for more than 15 years now and have never won the PNG Open but I am really happy to at least give myself a chance heading into the weekend”

First round leader Josh Carmichael followed up with a one under par 71 to get to 5 under par for the tournament, just two shots back from Taylor.

“Yesterday felt like I was in heaven. I was getting the breaks, the good lies and the putts were dropping but it wasn’t happening on the front nine today. The course is really tough and when the rough is long and the humidity taking it’s toll on your body, it can eat you up in a heartbeat” said Carmichael

On the other hand fellow New Zealander Mark Boe moved into contention after carding a 4 under par round of 68 to get back to even par for the tournament. Boe joins the other internationals in the field near the top of the leaderboard like Todd Nicholson (NZ), Brad Shilton (NZ) and 2005 Champion Eddie Barr (IRE) who will all be chasing down Chris Taylor on their quest to PNG glory.

Source – PGA Queensland

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