Uihlein Rises to Top in China


Peter Uihlein followed up his opening 5-under 67 with a 68 to take the halfway lead at the Shenzhen International. The European Tour event got underway Thursday at Genzon Golf Club in Shenzhen, China.

The 25-year-old from Massachusetts and former All-American at Oklahoma State posted five birdies and a bogey to reach 9-under 135, a stroke ahead of Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who carded a 69.

Trailing by three are England's Matt Ford (69), France's Gregory Havret (68) and Argentine Emiliano Grillo (67).

Uihlein, the 2013 Rookie of the Year on the European Tour, was pleased with his Friday outing. "It was tricky today. The wind was swirling quite a bit," he told the European Tour's website.

"I got the back nine out of the way pretty quickly. I played very solid. I felt like getting anything under par on the back nine was nice, and I played a pretty stress-free front nine which is always good.

"I don't have much going on upstairs, just spacing out, doing my own thing and sticking to my own game plan," added Uihlein, who capped his remarkable amateur career with a victory in the 2010 U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay, site of this year's U.S. Open.

"I don't really change it very often. It worked the first couple days so I'll see how it goes from there."

Four players are tied for seventh at 139. First-round leader Huang Wen-yi followed up his opening 66 with a 74 and dropped into a tie for 11th another stroke back.

The highest-ranked player of the field, American Bubba Watson at No. 4, has shot rounds of 70 and 74 and enters the weekend at even-par 144. The 36-hole cut was set at 2-over 146.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015028/leaderboard/index.html?showLeaderboard=Y.