Thomas Aiken fired the round of the day to move into second place behind leader SSP Chawrasia at the UBS Hong Kong Open, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Aiken moved up to 17 places on Friday after a blistering bogey-free 64 as he bids to snap a poor run of form on the European Tour. His last top-five finish came in January at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. The 34-year-old began Friday with a birdie at the first and moved to -2 with another at the fourth.
The 2014 Africa Open winner then made his second 2 at the eighth before finishing with par to go out in 31 – three shots better than his opening round. A birdie at the 13th was a sign of things to come as he finished with two birdies in his final three holes to get his tournament score to seven-under, two behind leader Chawrasia.
Aiken’s round of the day was almost replicated by compatriot Dylan Frittelli, a player in red-hot form after two top-five finishes in his last three events.
The 27-year-old South African, now into his second full season on tour, went out in 30 to soar up the leaderboard. He would go on to birdie 13 and 14 to match Aiken’s tally, but made his lone bogey of the day at the 16th before seeing his birdie putt on the last slide past.
The par helped Frittelli sign for a 65 and a move of 40 places up into seventh alongside Keith Horne. The 46-year-old, who won the VOG event at Arabella earlier this year, was one-under for his second round after his three bogeys slowed his momentum. The South African duo are joined in the bunch at four-under by 2017 Race to Dubai winner Tommy Fleetwood, former Ryder Cup winner Jamie Donaldson and rising Belgian star Thomas Detry.
Erik van Rooyen missed the cut by a single shot in his first start as a European Tour card holder, with Jbe Kruger also missing out on the weekend after he finished two strokes off the cut line.
Photo: Arep Kulal/Getty Images
