A spectacular round of 61-11-under par-gave Welshman Jamie Donaldson the half-time lead at 13-under par going into the weekend of the 2011 Volvo China Open at Luxehills Club in Chengdu, Sichuan. Well off the pace after a first round 70, Donaldson was one of the late afternoon starters. Already 5-under at the turn, he made three birdies on 10, 11 and 12, followed by another triple on 16, 17 and 18, to turn what would have been a very good day into a spectacular one. Donaldson's late charge will not count as a course record, as the players have been playing preferred lies, a decision that was taken early on the morning of the first day and which has looked increasingly odd as the weather has improved. The course itself is in splendid condition, as evidenced by the low cut figure of 5-under.
Until Donaldson's sudden explosion it seemed that a concertina of players on 12-under would lead the field. It is noteworthy that the top thirteen players on 11-under or better represent twelve different nationalities - only The Netherlands have two representatives.
Over the course of the morning many of the best performers from the first round continued to make progress, but the operative word was "many". Although Korea's Han Chang-won was the leader on paper yesterday evening, in fact Keith Horne finished the first round at the head of the field. The hefty South African showed no ill-effects from the interruption to his round the previous evening, coming in first thing in the morning to finish off the last four rounds with a couple of calm birdies on the two par-5s at 16 and 18 to take him to 9-under.
In effect this made him the first round leader, but in fact the second round was already under way, and before it was two holes old Belgium's Nicholas Colsaerts had joined Horne on 9-under with birdies on the first two holes. Others making early progress were Danny Lee of New Zealand, who also opened with two birdies, and Derksen of Holland, with four birdies on the front nine to move to 9-under.
Gregory Havret of France had been handily placed on 6-under overnight. Teeing off from 10, he started steadily with a single birdie in his first six holes, but suddenly reeled off three in a row at 16, 17 and 18.
Meanwhile, the biggest crowd of the day was following local hero Liang Wenchong and Spain's Sergio Garcia, and they were duly rewarded when both got into their stride on the back nine, shooting four birdies each. This took Garcia to 11-under and Liang to 10-under. Liang was joined on that figure by compatriot Wei Wei, who repeated his first-day score of 67 to give the Chinese support an unexpected addition to their hopes of success over the weekend. 15 year-old Li Haotong, who qualified as the winner of the Volvo Junior championship, also laid down a marker for the future with a 2-under par 70. Although his first-round 76 left him well short of making the cut, it was a creditable second-round effort from the youngster which matched or bettered the scores of his playing partners Andrew Martin and Matthew Millar of Australia.
By the end of the morning there were four players on 12-under - Horne, Havret, Colsaerts, and Denmark's Jeppe Huldahl, who took advantage of attention being diverted elsewhere to add a 65 to his first-round 67, moving quickly up the leaderboard with three birdies in his last five holes.
As the afternoon got under way the breeze picked up a little, but warm sun disposed of the last of the morning's chill. Han Chang-won played steadily over the front nine to move to 10-under, but could make no further headway. Early clubhouse leader Steve Alker of New Zealand also made progress from 6-under to 9-under, and finished on 11-under, but the fastest of the climbers was Ireland's Peter Lawrie. 4-under overnight and starting on 10, he played a sparkling front nine of 31 and then birdied the first to move to 10-under. Two more birdies on 7 and 8 allowed him to join the leading pack at 12-under. These were later joined by Jeev Milkha Singh and Gareth Maybin, a total of seven players.
As the afternoon wore on and the cut moved to 4-under and then 5-under, title holder Y.E. Yang and playing partner Padraig Harrington of Ireland, both major winners, found themselves under pressure. Harrington could make no headway, finishing one-over for the day and level for the tournament, well short of the mark. Yang momentarily dragged himself into a weekend spot with a birdie 2 on the 12th to go to 5-under, but he promptly lost it again with back-to-back bogeys on 13 and 14. He pulled out another birdie on 15 to go back to 4-under, and with two birdiable par-5s at 16 and 18 his Korean supporters would have hoped to see him make the cut, but his challenge disintegrated with a bogey on 17 and a double on 18.
It's a great pity - with the field so tightly packed and only 8 strokes to separate the qualifiers, this is one of those unusual situations where every player going into the weekend can still entertain some hopes of taking the title. And low scores are always a possibility on this course - Jamie Donaldson proved that beyond question this afternoon.