England's Casey leads by two at Heineken Classic

BY iseekgolf.com | Australasian PGA Tour | 2003 Heineken Classic | Round Two | 31 Jan 2003

England’s Paul Casey fired a -5 (67) in the second round of the Heineken Classic to take a two stroke lead and ten strokes in front of current worl number two, Ernie Els, with 36 holes to play.

Casey fired five birdies plus an eagle at the par 5 9th hole to close the second day at -12 at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia. Fellow countryman David Lynn claimed outright second place after a -7 (65), the best round of the day.

Ernie Els, playing for the fourth straight week after winning the Mercedes Championships and the Sony Open in Hawaii and finishing second last week at the Caltex Singapore Masters, carded an Even par 72 and now sits in equal 37th place at -2.

Els began his round at -2 on the 10th hole and went on to birdie his first two holes before bogeying the next two. He then three-putted for a double bogey 6 at the 14th hole and went on to par the next two holes and finished the back nine at 2 (38). He snared two more birdies on his final nine holes to get back to where he began the day at -2.

2002 Australian Open winner Steve Allan was four shots behind Casey after a -4 (68), and England’s Steve Webster was five shots back following a -3 (69).

England’s Nick Faldo posted a -1 (71) to close in a tie for 16th place at -4 while Greg Norman finished alongside Ernie Els in 37th place following a -3 (69).

Peter Lonard, who has won the last two tournaments on the 2002 Australasian Tour, stumbled on the second day with an Even Par 72 to close the day in equal 11th place at -5. Peter Fowler also failed to back up his first round 67 and posted a 72 to sit alongside Lonard in a group of five players at -5.