Print this page  |  Close Window

PHUKET, Thailand -- Oliver Wilson had two eagles on his way to a 6-under 66, taking the lead after two rounds of the Johnnie Walker Classic on Friday. The $2.45 million tournament is sanctioned by the European Tour, Asian Tour and Australasian Tour.

Wilson eagled the 11th and 15th holes to move one shot ahead of South African Anton Haig, who produced the day's most stunning performance, an 8-under 64 at the Blue Canyon Country Club.

Australian James Nitties finished with a 67, sharing third place with Retief Goosen, the world No. 8 from South Africa.

Wilson was bogey-free until the 18th, where he struggled before sending home a 6-foot putt.

"There was a twig which I couldn't move" near his ball in the rough after an errant drive, Wilson said. "I made a mess of it all the way to the green until I got to within six feet of the hole. It was a nice way to finish."

Haig's effort tied him with Australian Greg Norman for the course record, which Norman set in 1994.

"I've been practicing hard this year and working a bit on the golf swing and my coach really helped me back in South Africa," Haig said.

First-round leader Brad Kennedy collapsed to share 32nd place. Past champions Adam Scott (69) and Ernie Els (73) made the cut at 1-under 143, as did former Masters champion Mike Weir (78) at even-par 144.

Colin Montgomerie carded a 2-under-par 70 to move to 5 under for the tournament alongside Graeme Storm, while the English duo of Paul Casey and Nick Dougherty both missed the cut.

Casey was level par overall heading down the last, but a double-bogey 7 ruined his chances as the Ryder Cup hero carded a 2-over 146. Dougherty carded a 9-over 81 to plummet to 5 over after starting the day 4 under. And Scotland's Steven Gallacher started the day tied for second but carded a 76 to drop to 2 over.

Wilson is determined to keep his composure and stay ahead of the star-studded field over the weekend. Wilson, 26, was on course to take a two-shot lead into Saturday's third round before his trouble on the 18th.

"It's the first hole all week where I've just lost my composure a little bit," he said. "I tried to force a drive. I tried to get a bit too much out of it.

"It's nice to be leading the tournament. I've just been working on a few mental things this week trying to stay relaxed and enjoy it and it seems to work," Wilson added. "So if I can keep doing that, you never know, and you never know what will happen on the weekend.

"Mental discipline is very important here, especially on the back nine. You can be doing fine and then you suddenly just feel awful with the heat and you get all kinds of things going through your head, so it's quite hard to do," he said. "It's just really important to keep the fluids on and stick with it."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press and PA Sport. All rights reserved.