New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier shares eight way lead in Korea
Daniel Hillier – file image courtesy of NZ Open
New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier finds himself in an eight-way tie for the lead at the halfway mark of the Genesis Championship in South Korea, a birdie at his final hole allowing him to be part of one of the largest shares of a lead at the halfway mark of a DP World Tour event.
Currently in 22nd position in the Race to Dubai rankings, the 27-year-old Wellington golfer has experienced an indifferent run since his runner-up finish in the lucrative Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year, but a 9th place finish in India last week suggested things were on the improve, and his showing thus far this week would confirm as much.
“It’s very important out there (staying patient),” said Hillier. “It’s a course where you feel like you should be able to shoot a good score, but if you bite off more than you can chew you can get caught out quickly. I knew I had to hang in there and that chances would come. Thankfully, I managed to snag one on the last to put me in position.”
Also in a share of first after 36 holes are Korea’s Sung Jae Im, Junghwan Lee and Minhyuk Song, Nacho Elvira of Spain, Englishman Alex Fitzpatrick, Haotong Li, of China, and Frenchman Tom Vaillant. Junghwan Lee and Minhyuk Song
Both Hillier and Li have their sights on earning dual membership with the PGA TOUR, as they currently occupy two of the ten coveted spots at the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings, whilst Elvira and Vaillant are competing to earn a place in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in a fortnight, the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs.
David Micheluzzi is the leading Australian this week in 28th place at 2 under, Adam Scott is 44th, while Jason Scrivener just made the weekend in 64th place.
New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori and Australian Elvis Smylie both struggled in their second rounds after what had been solid starts to the week and have missed the cut by one.
