Lucas Herbert stretches lead at Australian Open
Lucas Herbert during today’s second round – image AGM
First round leader, Lucas Herbert, has extended his lead atop the leaderboard on day two of the ISPS Handa Australian Open, his second round of 66 at Kingston Heath moving him four clear of American Rhyggs Johnston with another shot back to a group at 9 under and five off the pace including last week’s PGA Champion Elvis Smylie.
Herbert was quickly out of the blocks on day two when he eagled the first and birdied the second and third holes to move well clear of the field but things slowed a little from there and it took until the 13th before he produced another birdie.
He would, though, birdie three in a row however and although challenged at times throughout his round by the likes of Cameron Smith, Austrian Lukas Nemezc, and Johnston, he has stretched his halfway lead to 4 and heads into the weekend in great shape to win his national open.
Despite his significant lead, Herbert is not getting ahead of himself. “We have still 36 holes to play around the sandbelt. The easiest trap to fall into is to think you have control of this tournament. It doesn’t take much to jump up and bite you so I am definitely in the position I want to be in but certainly don’t have control of it.
“Yes very happy. I though I played pretty god yesterday and didn’t really putt all that well but I putted really good today and the rest of the game was off so it was two days of polar opposites in terms of how I played.
“There are some tricky tee shots on that back nine today and just to stay really positive with the swings I was making I am really proud of those last few holes. Under the circumstances I thought I handled it really well.
“I had 15 under in my head at the start of the day and thought Cam and I might go at it and put a break in the field and make it a fun weekend for the two of us but it didn’t work out that way.
“I feel super comfortable out here at Kingston Heath having played here so many times and feel like I know the lines of the tees and the local knowledge you need to know around this course.
“I feel like I am not close to my best and want to work on a lot heading into the new season but to feel like that and still to be leading at the moment is pretty satisfying and gives me a lot of confidence.”
Smith joined Herbert in the lead at one stage at 11 under par but a back nine of 41 would see him finish at 6 under and eight shots from Herbert.
A lot of eyes were on Smylie as he looked to bounce back from a relatively slow opening round of 70. He did just that with a nine birdie, one bogey round of 8 under to be at 9 under and five from the lead.
“I felt like the whole group did a really good job at feeding off each other momentum wise,” said Smylie. “The course was playing quite scoreable and felt we really did a good job of capitalising.
“I did a really good job of focusing on my own game to ensure we kept the pace up after being put on the clock especially when Cam Smith was struggling.”
In the women’s Australian Open, the lead is held by joint first round leader Hyojin Yang, the amateur finishing with a round of 71 to be one ahead of recently turned professional Justice Bosio of Queensland and the ever-threatening Jiyai Shin.
Hannah Green is another shot back in 4th place alone.
Yang is from Jeju Island off the southern coast of South Korea and tomorrow she tries to hold off one of her favourite players in Jiyai Shin, one of Korea’s most prolific winning golfers.
Hyojin Yang – image Australian Golf Media
