Date: July 14, 2007
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Green fires into outright lead

Australian Nathan Green has fired a sensational eight-under-par round of 63 to grab the outright lead at the halfway mark of the John Deere Classic. After starting his second round four shots off overnight leader Neal Lancaster, the Australian rattled off eight birdies without a bogey to open up a one-shot lead over Swede Carl Pettersson and American Jason Dufner. Lancaster is in outright fourth place, two shots behind Green at 10-under-par, while South African Tim Clark is in a group of five players one stroke further adrift at nine-under. Green was ecstatic with his round, especially after taking three weeks off at the completion of the US Open to come back to Australia and relax with family and friends. “I was just happy to be playing golf again,” Green told pgatour.com. “Before I went home, the U.S. Open was my last event and I was frustrated and stressed out and not really enjoying playing. That was the reason for the break.” Fellow Australian Michael Sim is well in contention, currently in a tie for 17th at six-under, while Paul Gow, Steve Allan and Bronson Lacassie are a shot further behind in equal 23rd place. Stephen Leaney shot his second consecutive round of 69 to be tied for 37th at four-under, one clear of New Zealander Phil Tataurangi, and two clear of Gavin Coles. Andrew Buckle, Peter Lonard, Jarrod Lyle, Paul Sheehan, David Diaz and John Senden all failed to make the cut. Results from round two of the John Deere Classic(par 71) -12: Nathan Green (Australia) 67 63 -11: Carl Pettersson 67 64, Jason Dufner 65 66 -10: Neal Lancaster 64 68 -9: Duffy Waldorf 65 68, Kevin Sutherland 66 67, Tim Clark 68 65, Bob May 66 67, Kenny Perry 65 68 -7: Billy Mayfair 69 66, Brian Gay 72 63, D.J. Trahan 67 68, J.P. Hayes 70 65, Brendon de Jonge 67 68, Paul Stankowski 65 70, Jonathan Byrd 67 68 also: -6: Michael Sim (Australia) 69 67 -5: Paul Gow (Australia) 69 68, Bronson Lacassie (Australia) 71 66, Steve Allan (Australia) 71 66 -4: Stephen Leaney (Australia) 69 69 -3: Phil Tataurangi (New Zealand) 68 71 -2: Grant Waite (New Zealand) 71 69, Gavin Coles (Australia) 72 68 missed cut: -1: Andrew Buckle (Australia) 69 72 E: Peter Lonard (Australia) 69 73, Jarrod Lyle (Australia) 69 73 +2: Paul Sheehan (Australia) 72 72 +4: David Diaz (Australia) 75 71 +7: John Senden (Australia) 78 71