Kiwis Ben Campbell and Michael Hendry are out to spoil the party for a bevy of former winners from Australia on the second morning of the ISPS Handa New Zealand Open in Queenstown.
Campbell followed his first round course record 61 at the par-71 Millbrook Resort with a five-under 67 on the par-72 The Hills this morning. He has moved to 15-under par and in second place among the morning tee times on the second round of the $1 million Australasian Tour event.
Hendry, who flew in from the SCG event in Mexico on Wednesday, fired a six-under 65 at Millbrook Resort to move to 13-under after two rounds.
Heading them both is 2011 New Zealand Open champion Brad Kennedy who shot a nine-under 62 at Millbrook Resort today to move to the top of the leaderboard on 16-under par.
Kennedy and Hendry, who both play on the Japan Golf Tour, were paired over the first two rounds, producing a spectacular 31 birdies between them with just two dropped shots.
Australian Dimitrios Papadatos, the 2014 champion, shot a four-under 68 at The Hills to move into a share of fourth place among the morning scorers on 12-under, sharing the mark with Korea’s Sung-Jae Im who fired seven birdies in his 65 at The Hills.
Defending champion Matthew Griffin (AUS) remained in contention with a 67 at Millbrook Resort to share sixth position on 10-under with Waikato professional Brad Shilton, who shot 69 at Millbrook Resort this morning.
Rounding out the top-10 is the quartet of Young-Han Song (KOR), the lowest world ranked player this week at number 78, compatriot Dongmin Lee, Australian Matthew Guyatt and Kiwi Josh Geary.,
Conditions remain perfect for golf, still and sunny, and with both courses in pristine condition with firm and true greens. Therefore further hot scoring is predicted from the players this afternoon, with the cut for the final two rounds predicted to be as low as four-under par for the top 60 players plus ties.
