Derksen moves back into share of lead

Robert-Jan Derksen regained a share of the lead at the Johnnie Walker Classic after picking up two strokes to join clubhouse leader Anthony Kang on 10 under.

The Dutchman held the first round lead at The Vines Resort and Country Club after firing an eight-under-par 64 yesterday but began his second round two shots behind Kang, who carded his second consecutive 67 in the morning.

Derksen quickly made up the deficit with an eagle on his first hole, the 10th, but dropped one shot behind Kang after a bogey on the eighth.

However, the 35-year-old returned to 10 under with a birdie on the ninth and was still on 10 under through 13 holes.

John Bickerton was two shots off the lead following his 66 yesterday with six birdies and four bogeys on his first 15 holes.

Lee Westwood had to rebuild his round after a quadruple-bogey nine on the third resulted in him dropping from seven under to three under. A pair of birdies saw him recover to five under after 14.

World number nine Camilo Villegas of Colombia was in danger of missing the cut, projected to be three under, after remaining on level par through 14 holes while Greg Norman was well out of contention for the weekend after falling to three over following a double bogey on the 10th.

Earlier in the day, Kang, the winner of last week’s Maybank Malaysian Open, moved into contention for his second consecutive win with a five-under 67.

The 36-year-old began the morning three strokes behind Derksen but enjoyed an excellent start, rolling in a 25-footer for birdie on his opening hole, the 10th, and holing three straight birdies from the 13th to 15th.

He made another on the 17th to go out in 31 and after making the turn, found a fairway bunker on the third but picked up his sixth birdie of the round by blasting to within two feet of the pin.

A bogey on the 17th was the only blemish of the round but it did little to wipe the smile of the Korean-American’s face.

“The formula for shooting a good score in golf basically is driving it in the fairway and putting it on the greens and holing a lot of putts. I’ve been doing that the last three rounds in Malaysia and the first two rounds over here,” said Kang.

“If that continues onwards, it’s just a matter of whether the putts drop in or not but I’m just basically having the time of my life right now.

“I’m not making too many mistakes and I’m holing a lot of putts so it feels great to be on the golf course right now.

“I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t think about winning two in a row but we’ve got a pretty stellar field and world class players over here. For me to do that is statistically against the odds and pretty improbable.

“However this is a sports competition and that’s why we play.”

World number 11 Anthony Kim shot a four-under 68 for the second day in a row to join the Australian quartet of Andrew Dodt (66), Andre Stolz (67), Adam Blyth (68) and Terry Pilkadaris (66) on eight under, two shots behind the leader.

After failing to mount a challenge in Malaysia last week, Kim is happy to be back in contention once again.

“It’s been a good couple of days but I’m still making some careless mistakes,” said the 23-year-old.

“I think I’m just starting to knock the rust off my game so I’m happy to have a shot going into the weekend and hopefully my game will keep improving.”

Colin Montgomerie had five birdies and three bogeys in a round of 70 which left him on seven under, tied with five other players including Ian Poulter (69) and Graeme Storm (64), who moved up the leaderboard after consecutive eagles on the ninth and 10th.

“I was one over for the tournament after seven holes and going nowhere and all of a sudden, things picked up. I have no idea why it happens,” said Storm.

“A 64 gives me a little shout, only three behind the leaders at the moment. If I continue to hit the ball like I did and putt like I did for those 11 holes where I shot eight under, hopefully I can go forward again.”