December 12, 2008

SECOND-year professional Stephen Dartnall held his nerve and the lead but some big name players were on the scent in a rain-affected second round of the Australian Open.

West Australian qualifier Dartnall showed his opening-round seven-under 65 was no fluke, backing it up with a solid four-under 68 at Royal Sydney in the best of the conditions early on Friday to open up a two-stroke lead at 11 under before rain stopped play.

Troubled American John Daly will be around for the weekend, but likely only to finish his second round after he picked up one shot to move to five over through nine holes, with the cut likely to be one-over par.

With half the field still to complete their second rounds, US PGA Tour regular and world No.70 Mathew Goggin was outright second on nine under after a second-round 70.

But a host of established stars were lurking.

Australian Masters winner Rod Pampling (71) was well in touch at six under, one stroke ahead of two-time former Open champion Peter Lonard, who quietly moved into contention with a 70 on Friday to go with his first-round 69.

Robert Allenby was on a charge early in his round before heavy rain forced stopped play shortly after 3pm (EDT). He picked up four shots through nine holes to sit alongside Lonard on five under.

Australian PGA champion Geoff Ogilvy and 2006 Open winner John Senden were both two under for the tournament with nine holes left in their second rounds.

The players who had already finished their second rounds held an advantage, although the skies were expected to clear on Saturday with warm conditions forecast, meaning low scores should be the order of the day.

Everyone was chasing the unlikely figure of Dartnall, the 24-year-old clearly unperturbed after spending Thursday night in the lofty position of sharing the overnight lead.

In his second round he mixed six birdies with two bogeys and still felt he could improve on his opening two rounds.

"I feel I've been playing really well, (but) the good thing is I haven't got everything out of both the rounds, so there's still room for improvement,'' he said.

"I've played fantastic and I'm really happy with the way it's gone.

"Obviously you know what position you're in, but you try to take it like any other tournament.''

Play will re-start on Saturday at 6.45am (EDT) and organisers were hoping to start the third round at 11.45am (EDT), again using groups of three and a two-tee start.

APGA: Australian Open
Pos Name NAT Hole To Par 1 2 3 4 Total
1 Stephen Dartnall AUS F -11 65 68 133
2 Mathew Goggin AUS F -9 65 70 135
3 Ewan Porter AUS F -8 65 71 136
T4 Rod Pampling AUS F -6 67 71 138
T4 Matthew Jones AUS F -6 71 67 138
T6 Stuart Bouvier AUS F -5 70 69 139
T6 Rick Kulacz AUS F -5 70 69 139
T6 Cameron Percy AUS F -5 72 67 139
T6 Robert Allenby AUS 9 -5 71 71
T6 Peter Lonard AUS F -5 69 70 139