Taipei: England\u2019s Steve Lewton fired a flawless second round five-under-par 67 to stay firmly atop the leaderboard at the Ballantine\u2019s Taiwan Championship on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Englishman, who held the overnight lead, compiled a two-day total of 12-under-par 132 for a commanding seven-shot lead over Canadian Lindsay Renolds at the US$110,000 Asian Development Tour (ADT) event, which is the richest tournament on the schedule.<\/p>\n
Local prospects Yeh Wei-tze, amateur Lee Chieh-po and Wang Tsung-chieh kept the local hopes alive by recording matching 140s to stay one shot back of Renolds in equal third place together with England\u2019s Grant Jackson at the Sunrise Golf and Country Club.<\/p>\n
Lewton is delighted the hard work that he has put in with his coach is starting to pay off as he kept up his chase for a maiden victory on the ADT.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad I played really solid today. I didn\u2019t make any bogeys and I managed to hole many putts. I\u2019ll have to try and hit as many fairways as possible in order to play well tomorrow,\u201d said Lewton, who highlighted his bogey-free round with five birdies.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been working hard with my coach for the last couple of months. The hard work seems to be paying off now but I will try not to think so much for now. I have to stay focused on my game for the weekend rounds,\u201d added Lewton.<\/p>\n
Renolds, who is currently third on the ADT Order of Merit, is hoping for a good finish this week as it will put him in a better position to secure his Asian Tour card at the end of the season. The top-three ranked players at the end of the season will earn Asian Tour cards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played really well. I\u2019m happy with how I played even though my score wasn\u2019t as good as yesterday’s round,\u201d said the 26-year-old Canadian, who mixed his card with one eagle, five birdies and three bogeys.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy target is definitely to finish in top three at the end of the season as that would entitle me to a full Asian Tour card for 2014,\u201d added Renolds, who has finished top-10 in the last three tournaments on the ADT, which is a feeder circuit to the premier Asian Tour.<\/p>\n
Yeh, who missed out on securing his Asian Tour playing rights at the Qualifying School in January, made a decision to take up his Asian Tour membership once again this week after spending most of his time playing in Japan in the last couple of years.<\/p>\n
He is confident that the Asian Tour and the ADT will provide him with more opportunities to further advance his golf career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a long while since I last played on the Asian Tour. I feel great playing on the ADT this week and very happy with how I played today,\u201d said Yeh, the 2000 Malaysian Open winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe playing standards on the Asian Tour have improved a lot, as compared to the past. I am sure it will provide me with a better platform to advance my career if I play more on the Tour,\u201d added the 40-year-old, who marked his card with six birdies against four bogeys.<\/p>\n
The halfway cut was set at three-over-par 147 with 55 players advancing into the final two rounds.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Han Ren was the only player from China to make the cut as he signed for a 71 to tie at 14th after the second round of the Ballantine\u2019s Taiwan Championship.<\/p>\n
Title holder Hsieh Chi-hsien and current ADT Order of Merit leader American James Bowen, unfortunately, failed to make the cut after carding disappointing rounds of 78 and 76 respectively.<\/p>\n
All ADT events receive Official World Golf Ranking points, which will be used to determine the field for the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne in November and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n
Winners on the ADT will receive a minimum of six world ranking points while the top six players and ties will earn points based on a sliding scale.<\/p>\n
Leading second round scores: 132 \u2013 Steve LEWTON (ENG) 65-67<\/p>\n 139 \u2013 Lindsay RENOLDS (CAN) 68-71<\/p>\n 140 \u2013 LEE Chieh-po (A) (TWN) 70-70, YEH Wei-tze (TWN) 70-70, Grant JACKSON (ENG) 70-70, WANG Tsung-chieh (TWN) 71-69<\/p>\n 141 \u2013 LEE Yi-cheng (TWN) 74-67, HUNG Chien-yao (TWN) 71-70<\/p>\n 142 \u2013 Daniel BRINGOLF (AUS) 70-72, CHEN Ming-hsin (TWN) 73-69, LU Wei-chih (TWN) 72-70, CHANG Tse-Peng (TWN) 72-70, LIN Kuan-po (TWN) 70-72<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Taipei: England\u2019s Steve Lewton fired a flawless second round five-under-par 67 to stay firmly atop the leaderboard at the Ballantine\u2019s Taiwan Championship on Friday.<\/p>\n The Englishman, who held the overnight lead, compiled a two-day total of 12-under-par 132 for a commanding seven-shot lead over Canadian Lindsay Renolds at the US$110,000 Asian Development Tour (ADT) event, which is the richest tournament on the schedule.<\/p>\n Local prospects Yeh Wei-tze, amateur Lee Chieh-po and Wang Tsung-chieh kept the local hopes alive by recording matching 140s to stay one shot back of Renolds in equal third place together with England\u2019s Grant Jackson at the Sunrise Golf and Country Club.<\/p>\n Lewton is delighted the hard work that he has put in with his coach is starting to pay off as he kept up his chase for a maiden victory on the ADT.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad I played really solid today. I didn\u2019t make any bogeys and I managed to hole many putts. I\u2019ll have to try and hit as many fairways as possible in order to play well tomorrow,\u201d said Lewton, who highlighted his bogey-free round with five birdies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world-golf-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
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