Four share lead in China

Adam Scott played eight holes while Michael Campbell, Retief Goosen and Peter Hanson completed 36 – but they all share the lead after a confusing second day of the Johnnie Walker Classic.

Scott finished birdie-eagle-birdie to card a course record 63 in the delayed first round in Beijing, and then spent the afternoon visiting the Great Wall of China.

In stark contrast, those players who had not struck a ball in anger at Pine Valley on Thursday due to the high winds which disrupted play, then tried to play two rounds in one day as the event attempted to make up for lost time.

Only 42 managed to play all 36 holes, but among them were Campbell, Goosen and Hanson, who all joined Scott at the top of the leaderboard on nine under par.

Campbell and Hanson, the winner of last week’s Spanish Open, recorded superb second rounds of 65, while Goosen added a 67 to his opening 68 for a halfway total of 135.

Colin Montgomerie had threatened to join the leaders after an opening 68 and four more birdies in his second round, but two late bogeys left the former European number one with a 70 and three off the pace on six under.

Thirty six players will complete their second rounds at 6.30am local time on Saturday, with the 78 players from the top half of the field beginning their second round at 6.45am.

The forecast for tomorrow does mention the possibility of torrential rain and lightning, and Thursday’s disruption had come as no surprise, especially to the players based in the United States. Nine of the last 16 events – including the US Masters – suffered from bad weather.

“I was up early, 4.30am,” said Scott after completing the final eight holes of his first round at 6.50am on Friday.

“We’re coming back tomorrow for the second round but it’s pretty much standard practice for us now. Seven of my last eight events have had full day weather delays so I’m getting used to it.

“It’s such a shame about yesterday, the weather was fine it was just too windy. The weather has spoilt a lot of good tournaments so far this year.

“We’ve had two different days but my game stayed the same. I played great yesterday and hit a pretty good score despite the conditions and this morning I kept swinging in the same rhythm.”

Ireland's Peter Lawrie is tied for 11th place on four under after firing a 71 today.