Gavin Moynihan followed up his level par opening round with his second round of 72 at the Foshan Open in China.
Moynihan comfortably made the halfway cut which fell at two over par and sits in a tie for 45th heading into the weekend in China, twelve off the leaders.
At the top of affairs, Zhang Hui-lin produced the best performance of his career to card a stunning 64 and take the halfway lead.
The Chinaman, who is a two-time winner on the China Tour, started the day two shots behind overnight leader Callum Tarren but charged into the lead with six birdies over the front nine.
The 28 year old, who finished just outside the top 50 at last year’s Foshan Open, continued to make inroads over the back nine through his excellent short game by holing a 25-foot birdie putt on the 15th and a 20-foot putt for birdie at the 18th.
Zhang’s sublime scoring took him three shots clear of the rest of the field after 36 holes with Wales’s Oliver Farr his nearest challenger on nine under par.
After delighting the home crowds with his imperious display which included nine birdies overall, Zhang believes the familiarity of Foshan Golf Club has worked to his advantage so far this week.
“Foshan is my lucky course,” said Zhang, who hails from Hunan in southern China. “I really like the course set up here and it suits my game.
“I have been struggling a bit this season, so during Wednesday’s Pro-Am I made some minor adjustments to my short game and they seem to be working very well.
“The greens this year are very firm and fast, but I have felt very confident with my putting this week after making some changes and I holed some really long ones today.
“It is always nice to start in the last group on the weekend, but I have been telling myself not to get too excited – even though my caddie was getting very excited after I shot six under on the front nine, I kept telling him to calm down as we still have a long way to go.”
Closest behind Zhang is Farr who has brought his excellent recent form to Foshan. The 29 year old, who has finished inside the top ten in each of his last three starts on the European Challenge Tour, carded eight birdies en route to a six under par 66 in Foshan.
Also impressing during the second round in China was Spain’s Pedro Oriol. The 31 year old, who is currently ninth on the Road to Oman, signed for a five under par 67 to share third place with England’s Tarren and the Netherlands’ Daan Huizing at the competition’s halfway stage.
Scores after Round Two:
132 Z Hui-Lin (Chn) 68 64,
135 O Farr (Wal) 69 66,
136 C Tarren (Eng) 65 71, P Oriol (Esp) 69 67, D Huizing (Ned) 66 70,
137 S Heisele (Ger) 67 70, J Dantorp (Swe) 69 68,
138 A Saddier (Fra) 68 70, M Schwab (Aut) 68 70, P Howard (Eng) 67 71,
139 L Gagli (Ita) 71 68, S Fernandez (Esp) 72 67, B Neil (Sco) 70 69, M Antcliff (Aus) 69 70, J Heath (Eng) 67 72,
140 J Hansen (Den) 71 69, N Cullen (Aus) 66 74, C Blomstrand (Swe) 71 69, R Evans (Eng) 70 70, C Koepka (USA) 70 70, M Lundberg (Swe) 66 74, J Winther (Den) 71 69,
141 J Guerrier (Fra) 71 70, R Cho (Kor) 70 71, G Forrest (Sco) 72 69, S Brown (Eng) 70 71, S Forsström (Swe) 74 67, C Zi-Hao (Chn) 70 71, M Fenasse (Fra) 69 72,
142 V Perez (Fra) 74 68, B Virto (Esp) 69 73, C Sordet (Fra) 70 72, C Ford (Eng) 73 69, R McEvoy (Eng) 71 71, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 72 70, T Rongjian (Chn) 70 72, C Braeunig (Ger) 71 71,
143 D Foos (Ger) 72 71, R Saxton (Ned) 70 73, C Mivis (Bel) 69 74, Z Jin (Chn) 70 73, M Madsen (Den) 72 71, A Pavan (Ita) 71 72, J Geary (Nzl) 72 71, Y Jian-Feng (Chn) 73 70,
144 O Lindell (Fin) 73 71, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 74 70, M Kinhult (Swe) 72 72, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 69 75, G Moynihan (Irl) 72 72, B Macpherson (Aus) 71 73, Y Tian (Chn) 71 73, G Porteous (Eng) 72 72, Y Yi-Nong (Chn) 71 73,
145 M Ovesen (Den) 75 70, M Webb (Eng) 74 71, J Senior (Eng) 74 71, D Lee (Kor) 76 69, T Sato (Jpn) 69 76, H Wen-Yi (Chn) 75 70, M Perry (Nzl) 72 73, W Hongfu (Chn) 70 75, J Doherty (Sco) 74 71, J Arnoy (Nor) 74 71, T Murray (Eng) 72 73,
146 O Lengden (Swe) 74 72, R Ree (USA) 69 77, R Kellett (Sco) 72 74, F Shiyu (Chn) 75 71, M Ford (Eng) 70 76, F Laporta (Ita) 70 76, O Stark (Swe) 75 71, N Geyger (Chi) 72 74, S Jung (Can) 72 74, X Bowen (Chn) 73 73,
147 M Wiegele (Aut) 72 75, C Changping (Chn) 70 77, J Sjöholm (Swe) 75 72, M Tullo (Chi) 75 72, E Goya (Arg) 71 76, M Orrin (Eng) 78 69, D Lawson (Aus) 74 73, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 78 69,
148 Y Hao (Chn) 73 75, C Wood (Aus) 75 73, L Xuen-Cheng (Chn) 74 74, C Hai-Meng (Chn) 69 79, B Hafthorsson (Isl) 77 71, M Baldwin (Eng) 73 75, R Santos (Por) 72 76, T Linard (Fra) 73 75, Z Zi-Hong (Chn) 75 73,
149 J Da-Xing (Chn) 74 75, S Hak (Hkg) 75 74, M McCardle (Aus) 78 71,
150 M Cheng-Yao (Chn) 77 73, L Chun (Chn) 75 75, G Charoenkul (Tha) 77 73,
152 Z Shang (Chn) 73 79, J Girrbach (Sui) 76 76,
153 X Qin (Chn) 80 73, S Zi-Han (Chn) 76 77, Z Wei-Yu (Chn) 76 77,
154 W Yanzhang (Chn) 78 76,
155 A Belt (Eng) 78 77, L Xiaofei (Chn) 75 80,
156 W Tu-Xuan (Chn) 77 79, W Ziting (Chn) 77 79, C Xiao Zhong (Chn) 77 79,
157 L Gui-Ming (Chn) 79 78, H Ze-Yu (Chn) 75 82, Z Zhu (Chn) 79 78,
159 L Xiao-Qi (Chn) 79 80, Z Guo-Wu (Chn) 80 79,
161 M Yiyuan (Chn) 77 84, H Ren (Chn) 79 82,
162 W Chang-Wei (Chn) 83 79,
163 H Jia Pei (Chn) 87 76,
166 D Chen Xiao (Chn) 85 81,
171 L Zhong Qiu (Chn) 88 83,
** M Skelton (Eng) 68 RT, S Dong (Chn) 84 WD, Z Jia (Chn) 81 RT, C Ding-Gen (Chn) 79 RT, H Shao-Cai (Chn) RT 0, H Zeming (Chn) RT 0,
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