Sim, Carballo share midway lead at Moonah Classic

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Michael Sim was bogey-free in the second round.

FINGAL, Australia -- Michael Sim birdied four of his final five holes Friday to grab a share of the 36-hole lead at the Moonah Classic, the second stop on the 2009 Nationwide Tour schedule. Sim's late flurry finished off a 5-under 67 and put him at 8-under 136, which was later matched by Argentina's Miguel Carballo, the last man off the course.

Carballo

The pair is one stroke better than Australian Terry Pilkadaris (67) and Kentucky's Josh Teater (68).

First-round co-leader Daniel Summerhays (70) is two strokes back, along with Aussies Steven Conran (67) and Peter O'Malley (70) and Texan Hunter Haas (70). New England native Fran Quinn reeled off six consecutive birdies to begin his morning session and finished with a 67, leaving him at 5-under and three back, tied for ninth with five others.

Sim grabbed the early lead without any drama, just steady play for the 24-year-old who currently leads the Australasian Tour Order of Merit after a T7 finish at last week's Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth.

"I think my good play has just continued from last week," said Sim, who admitted he was anxious to play the Moonah Links course this week. "I think I probably know the course better than anyone else in the field. I think I've played it between 35 and 50 times. You know the shots around the greens, you know where to bail out, you know the breaks on the greens. Just to know places to miss the ball on many greens is essential."

Long on talent that has never fully developed because of recurring back troubles, Sim appears to returning to form that earned him the title of the world's No. 1 ranked amateur in 2005.

"My back has been good since midway through '07. I had a bit of a niggle last year but my health is 100%," said Sim, who encountered additional back troubles midway through the 2006 season on the Nationwide Tour, when he finished No. 19 on the money list and earned his PGATOUR card at the age of 22. "For the last eight months, my ball striking has improved a lot. I've been hitting a lot more greens and I've given myself a lot more birdie putts."

In addition to his physical health improving, Sim has been spending time with a sports psychologist, who is helping with the mental side of things.

"I've started to believe in myself a bit more. When I first turned pro, it was like these guys are better than me," said Sim. "It's probably taken me a couple of years to get over that. You watch those guys on TV for so long and you get out there on the range and watch them hit balls, then you don't get your own work done."

Carballo, playing in the final group, posted a second straight 68 that included eight straight pars to close the day. The 29-year old made a jump with an eagle and two birdies around the turn. A 4-iron from 221 yards to less than two feet resulted in an eagle-3 at the par-5, 15th. He then added consecutive birdies at Nos. 18 and 1 and settled in for his share of the lead after getting up-and-down on three straight holes near the end of the round.

"It was perfect today," Carballo said through a translator. "Everything was good. My putting is very good, I'm hitting my driver a long way and the irons are good, too. I really like the links style course a lot. I like playing in the wind. I'm used to playing in the wind in Argentina. You've got to play little shots around the course. You really have to think your way around."

Teater, a 29-year old from Lexington, has gotten it done the first two days thanks to a new aspect to his game, the knockdown shot.

"I've been one that's hated playing in the wind up until the last six months," he said. "It used to be that when I tried to hit a knockdown, I just hit it low and left. Now I can actually hit the shot and control where it goes and that's a nice feeling."

Teater would have had a better feeling about the day had it not been for a closing bogey at the par-5, 18th.

"I traveled all this way and I didn't come here just to play golf," he said. "I expected to come out here and compete. I brought my caddie with me and we've done a lot of hard work."

Pilkadaris, a 35-year old resident of Melbourne, got off to a quick start with back-to-back birdies and was fairly steady the rest of the way before mixing three birdies with a bogey during a four-hole stretch on the back nine.

Quinn was in the first group off the first tee and vaulted up the board with six straight birdies to open his day and setting the tone for the rest of the field.

"You try to keep making birdies but you know the course is difficult and you know you're probably not going to be able to sustain it," said Quinn. "You'd love to, but you're just not. It's a hard golf course and you have to take what it gives you and try not to make any sloppy decisions."

A couple errant shots here and there led to four bogeys in five holes starting at No. 9 as Quinn gave much of the good work back. The 43-year old rebounded with consecutive birdie putts of one, six and six feet to get back to minus-5.

"We don't get a chance to play this type of golf at all back home," said the Massachusetts native. "It's awesome golf. You've got all different wind conditions that come from all different directions. You've got to place your ball around different areas of the green to have a chance to make birdie."

Second-Round Notes: Fran Quinn's six consecutive birdies to open a round was one off the Nationwide Tour record of seven, set by Rocky Walcher at the 2000 Wichita Open.

• Michael Putnam started the second round on the back nine and posted a bogey-5 on the 10th hole. He followed that up with seven straight 3's (4 birdies, 2 pars and an eagle) before ending the nine with a par-5. His 5-under 31 on the back nine tied Ewan Porter's 31 in round one a year ago.

• Friday's scoring average of 71.896 was about 11/2 strokes below Thursday's opening average of 73.418.

• The most difficult hole on the course for the first two days has been the par-3, 5th, which has a scoring average of 3.280. The easiest hole has been the par-2, 2nd, which has a scoring average of 4.482.

• A total of 72 players made the 36-hole cut, which came at even-par 144. The cut last year came at 4-over par.

• The low rounds of the day, and the tournament, were turned in by Andrew Buckle (66) and Dustin White (66).