Saturday 14 November 2015 08:58, UK
Lucas Bjerregaard opened up a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the BMW Masters as first-round pace-setter Sergio Garcia stumbled on the second day in Shanghai.
Bjerregaard birdied four of his last six holes to match his opening 66 and vault clear of the field on 12 under par, while Garcia slipped into a share of second with Thongchai Jaidee after dropping three shots in two holes on the back nine.
The Spaniard moved smoothly to 11 under with birdies at the third, sixth and seventh, but he three-putted the 12th and then pulled his second shot to the long 13th into water and took three to get down from just short of the green to run up a double-bogey seven.
Garcia did pull a shot back at 15 and parred in to post a 71 and close on nine under alongside Jaidee, who was one over for the day after six before picking up three shots in four holes around the turn.
The Thai veteran maintained his charge with further birdies at 13, 15 and 16, although a closing bogey took the gloss off a 68 which left him three behind Bjerregaard, who completed 36 holes with just a single bogey on his card.
The in-form Dane started with a birdie at the 10th and added another at 16 before dropping his first shot of the tournament at the next, but he responded with a front-nine 31 that he capped with his 13th birdie of the week at the ninth.
"It was a great round and obviously finished off with some good birdies coming in," said Bjerregaard, who was pipped to the Hong Kong Open title by Justin Rose three weeks ago. "Nothing much really happened on the first nine, I just played really solid. It was a good bit tougher than [Thursday] with the wind up. Some of the holes were playing really long.
"It was fun playing with Pete [Uihlein]. He had seven birdies in a row, and I was cheering him on. He just missed out by an inch for his eighth in a row there, and I was really hoping that would go in. He's a nice guy and we played three rounds together in Turkey, so I got to know him there and it was nice that we both played well today.
"It was nice in Hong Kong to prove to myself and to everyone else that I can still compete up there. Hopefully I can do that again this week and just come up one place better than last time."
Ian Poulter moved into a tie for fourth as a late run of four consecutive birdies from the 13th earned him a second, successive 68, while fellow Englishman Paul Casey (69) and BMW PGA champion Byeong Hun An (71) are also four off the lead on eight under.
Ross Fisher, who lost out in a three-man play-off at Lake Malaren 12 months ago, got to 10 under before dropping his first shot of the event at the 11th, and he also bogeyed three of the last five holes after a birdie at 13 to return a disappointing 71.
Fisher's costly finish saw him slip to seven under long with Peter Uihlein, who carded a superb 66 which featured a remarkable run of seven consecutive birdies from the 15th, but he just failed to equal the European Tour record of eight in a row when he missed from 15 feet on the fourth green.
But it was a tough day for world No 5 Rose, who offset four birdies with as many bogeys in a frustrating 72 that left him on five under alongside British Masters champion Matt Fitzpatrick and former European No 1 Henrik Stenson.
