Date: December 05, 2008
Author: Luke Buttigieg at Coolum, Sportal

Lyle, Goggin on top

Victorian Jarrod Lyle&aposs course record-equalling 63 and a 68 from Tasmanian Mathew Goggin have the pair on top of the leaderboard after the second day of the Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship at Coolum. And while there was no repeat of the thunderstorms that disrupted the opening day&aposs play, when half of the field had to return early Friday morning to complete their rounds, the resulting delay to round two meant it wasn&apost finished on the second evening. Eighteen players will have to return to the course at 7:15am (AEST) on Saturday morning and with the cut hovering between even par or plus one, depending on how some of those 18 players finish, defending champ Peter Lonard could be among the casualties. Tournament drawcard John Daly has definitely missed the cut for the second week running after a disastrous triple bogey at the last left him with a 77 and plus four overall, while Lonard&aposs 75 has him precariously placed at one over. Others who will be heading home early include Jarrod Moseley, who shared the title with Lonard in 2002, Western Australian Stephen Leaney and New South Welshman and Tour veteran Peter Fowler. With the course at their mercy in the morning thanks to benign conditions and greens softened by Thursday&aposs thunderstorms and subsequent overnight rain, Lyle and Goggin capitalised to share top spot on a packed leaderboard at nine under. Only one stroke back in outright third place though is equal round-one leader Paul Sheehan, who followed the six-under 66 that he completed on Friday morning with a 70 to stay in contention. Wayne Perske carded a 66 to move within two shots of the lead along with Sportsbet Masters champion Rod Pampling, two-time winner Peter Senior, Michael Curtain and David Lutterus, who all added 67s, and Peter Wilson (69) who had led earlier at eight under. And Sheehan&aposs fellow round-one leader Tim Wilkinson (72) was also at minus eight late in his front nine before dropping back to six under and level with 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and Kiwi Richard Lee (71). Nathan Green had a mixed round of 68 that featured the shot of the tournament so far, a hole in one at the par-three 11th, as well as three bogeys, as he also moved to minus six and also alongside Matthew Ballard (68). 2006 Australian Open champion John Senden (70), American Paul Goydos (67), Peter O&aposMalley (67) and Kiwis Michael Long (72) and Steve Alker (68) share 16th place on five under. While Lyle, Goggin and co. were out in the best conditions of the day, the wind strengthened in the afternoon but the anticipated thunderstorms that had been expected later never materialised, with fading light instead ending play prematurely. One over when the suspension of play came on Thursday after he had just birdied the 12th, two-time 2008 Nationwide Tour winner Lyle picked up another shot at 15 after resuming at 5:30am (AEST) to sign for an even-par 72. Having given no indication of what was to come, Lyle then picked up successive birdies at 12 and 13 and 16 and 17 to kick-start his charge, before picking up further shots at the 2nd and then four in a row from the 5th to go close to breaking the course record. “It&aposs been kind of weird my golf game, I&aposve been playing good but just not scoring and just not taking advantage of the easy holes,” said Lyle. “I sat down with Dad last night over dinner and pretty much had an argument with him about everything that I&aposm doing.” “Something kind of snapped in me and today was just one of those days that I hit it really good. I hit it just as good as yesterday but holed some putts and got some momentum going.” Goggin didn&apost start his day as well as Lyle, dropping an early shot at the 12th before recovering with a birdie at 16, but he bogeyed 16 playing it again several hours later before a much better front nine that included an eagle and three birdies got him going. “I didn&apost do much through the really still part of the day but it&aposs a tricky little golf course and now with the wind up in the afternoon nine under will probably be around about at the end of the day,” Goggin said. “Yeah it felt alright. I putted well yesterday for nine holes and then came out this morning and wasn&apost feeling it at all but then felt a little bit better towards the last four or five holes.” After players were forced off the course just after 3pm (AEST) on Thursday, half the field returned at 5:30am on Friday morning to finish the first round, with Sheehan joining Wilkinson at the top.