Rafa Cabrera Bello will take a three-shot lead into the weekend at the UBS Hong Kong Open after another impressive performance in the Far East.
The Spaniard opened with a 64 on Thursday at Hong Kong Golf Club to take a one-shot lead and he matched the lowest round of the day again on Friday with a 65 to get to 11 under and lead the way from Australian Sam Brazel, who shot 66 to move to eight under.
Masters champion Danny Willett joined Brazel in firing a 66 to then sit at six under alongside fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, American Paul Peterson and South African Justin Walters.
Cabrera Bello’s progress into the weekend continues a remarkable run that has seen him not miss a single cut in 2016 while also making his Ryder Cup debut and finishing eighth on the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.
The only thing missing from his stellar campaign is a win and the 32 year old is confident he will soon lift a trophy, something he has not done on the European Tour since the Dubai Desert Classic in 2012.
Defending champion Justin Rose will start the weekend ten shots behind Cabrera Bello after a one under 69 in round, but the Olympic Gold medallist is hoping overcome his putting woes to have a low scoring weekend.
Player Quotes
Rafa Cabrera Bello: “I’m in a commanding position, but it might even be by the time I tee off tomorrow, I’m not even leading anymore. I’m going to try to do nothing different. Just stick to my game plan and try to keep playing smart and being patient, waiting for my opportunities, and hopefully hitting good shots and creating some birdie chances.
“I know I will win again. I’ve won before and will do so again. I just need to keep giving myself chances. I have been working on some mistakes that maybe I have done on other occasions. I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong not to get the win, so it will happen. Hopefully it will happen in two days’ time.”
Sam Brazel: “It was fun out there again. I got lucky a couple of times and the putter seems to be working okay, so it’s nice. Going into the weekend I’ll just try to go and do my thing. I’ll just try and control what I can control once again. Things are working well.”
Danny Willett: “We played pretty good yesterday and didn’t take loads of chances. Played just nice and steady again today. It’s a golf course you’ve got to put your ball in position off the tee. You can take a few things on but as soon as you get in the rough around here, you’ve not got much control of your golf ball. The greens are a bit firmer this year, and obviously then with a few tight pins, it makes it more difficult. But we put the ball in position most of the day and I hit a lot of greens, so although we weren’t close loads, we tried to make it as simple as possible. Yeah, two good days’ work, I’d say.
“It’s nice to be in this position after the last few months. But it was nice last week, after the DP World Tour Championship to take a couple of weeks off and rested well. Actually took some proper time off, which I’ve not been able to do for a while. That was really nice. Then came out here, probably as fresh as I’ve been for a month and a half, which is nice, and it’s probably showed mentally more than anything. The frustrations, even when you hit bad shots, you don’t let it get to you as much as I did probably in the previous couple of months.”
Round two scores
129 R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 64 65,
132 S Brazel (Aus) 66 66,
134 P Peterson (USA) 66 68, D Willett (Eng) 68 66, J Walters (RSA) 67 67, T Fleetwood (Eng) 66 68,
135 S Lewton (Eng) 68 67, D Chia (Mas) 69 66, H Chien-Yao (Tpe) 69 66, T Jaidee (Tha) 67 68,
136 J Scrivener (Aus) 67 69, D Im (USA) 69 67, D Lipsky (USA) 66 70, B Hebert (Fra) 66 70, A Dodt (Aus) 69 67, P Uihlein (USA) 66 70, C Pigem (Esp) 68 68,
137 J Campillo (Esp) 66 71, S Hend (Aus) 69 68, J Fahrbring (Swe) 67 70, N Kimsey (Eng) 67 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 69 68, M Jiménez (Esp) 69 68, P Dunne (Irl) 68 69, N Bertasio (Ita) 67 70, S Rahman (Ban) 67 70, S Kapur (Ind) 68 69, D Perrier (Fra) 69 68,
138 R Rock (Eng) 70 68, D Boonma (Tha) 67 71, T Khrongpha (Tha) 71 67, J Pagunsan (Phi) 67 71, M Tabuena (Phi) 69 69, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 69, G Bhullar (Ind) 69 69, J Kruger (RSA) 66 72, S Gros (Fra) 65 73,
139 M Armitage (Eng) 68 71, D Drysdale (Sco) 69 70, B Rumford (Aus) 71 68, J Smith (Eng) 66 73, P Meesawat (Tha) 73 66, J Rose (Eng) 70 69, P Larrazábal (Esp) 69 70, P Waring (Eng) 71 68, S Gallacher (Sco) 69 70, N Srithong (Tha) 69 70, N Elvira (Esp) 66 73,
140 P Pittayarat (Tha) 69 71, A Björk (Swe) 69 71, P Angles (Esp) 69 71, P Reed (USA) 70 70, M Fraser (Aus) 71 69, A Da Silva (Bra) 69 71, S Lee (Kor) 72 68, D Brooks (Eng) 75 65, L Wenchong (Chn) 70 70, J Janewattananond (Tha) 69 71, A Atwal (Ind) 70 70, W Ormsby (Aus) 68 72, D Howell (Eng) 70 70, C Phadungsil (Tha) 71 69, I Poulter (Eng) 68 72, E Molinari (Ita) 72 68, P Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 69 71, J Stalter (Fra) 70 70, C Paisley (Eng) 69 71, T Chuayprakong (Tha) 73 67,
141 A Que (Phi) 73 68, L Wei-Chih (Tpe) 68 73, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 70, R Gangjee (Ind) 71 70, H Porteous (RSA) 72 69, S Henry (Sco) 73 68, M Carlsson (Swe) 70 71, T Detry (Bel) 73 68, J Wang (Kor) 72 69,
142 S Norris (RSA) 72 70, N Fung (Mas) 72 70, R Lee (Can) 72 70, D Zecheng (Chn) 70 72, P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 74 68, M Pavon (Fra) 74 68, A Lascuna (Phi) 69 73, D Stewart (Sco) 69 73, M Mamat (Sin) 69 73, L Jensen (Den) 72 70,
143 K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 75 68, J Quesne (Fra) 72 71, L Wen-Tang (Tpe) 70 73, R Wattel (Fra) 74 69, J Randhawa (Ind) 71 72, S Barr (Aus) 72 71, D Frittelli (RSA) 74 69, C Kumar (Ind) 73 70,
144 G Storm (Eng) 69 75, L Chieh-Po (Tpe) 70 74, C Nirat (Tha) 71 73, J Knutzon (USA) 76 68, M Kawamura (Jpn) 72 72, Z Lianwei (Chn) 74 70, A Groom (Aus) 72 72, G Havret (Fra) 74 70, K Richardson (Aus) 72 72, S Tiley (Eng) 74 70,
145 S Chawrasia (Ind) 71 74, K Horne (RSA) 74 71,
146 R Paratore (Ita) 77 69, J Colomo (Esp) 72 74, M Perera (Sri) 75 71, U Park (Aus) 76 70,
147 L Weber (Fra) 71 76, R Beem (USA) 76 71, S Walker (Eng) 75 72, H Rai (Ind) 72 75,
148 J Stewart (Hkg) 72 76, C Hanson (Eng) 75 73,
149 S Dyson (Eng) 75 74, H Wong (am) (Hkg) 76 73, Y Artigolle (am) (Hkg) 74 75,
150 B Munson (USA) 71 79, C Plaphol (Tha) 75 75,
151 C Shih-Chang (Tpe) 72 79, T Ng (am) (Hkg) 74 77,
157 Y Yin Ho (Hkg) 74 83,
** R Khan (Ind) 76 WD
