Wentworth, England – England's James Morrison was the early mover in the second round of the PGA Championship at Wentworth on Friday as he surged to the top of the leaderboard.
The 27-year old had his sixth birdie of the morning on the 13th to go to ten-under par for the tournament and leapfrog the overnight leaders David Drysdale from Scotland and Ireland's Peter Lawrie.
Spain's Alvaro Quiros was in hot pursuit of the Englishman. He had two bogeys to finish his front nine but a four at the 12th and a birdie two at the 14th put him within two shots of Morrison.
Defending champion Luke Donald, round in 68 on Thursday, moved menacingly through the field and with five holes left he was seven-under having atoned for a dropped shot on 11th with an eagle three on the par-5 12th.
Drysdale and Lawrie were amongst the first starters and were steady rather than showing the spectacular form of the first day when they both shot 66s. Drysdale was eight under the card after signing for a 70 whilst Lawrie was level par for the day with two left to play.
Justin Rose who opened with a 67 despite suffering from vertigo on Thursday had moved to six-under, from five, level with Italy's Francesco Molinari whose brother Edoardo was a shot further back 11 holes into his round.
Morrison conceivably could have been playing Test cricket for England against the West Indies in Nottingham on Friday instead of leading the European Tour's flagship event.
The 2010 Madeira Islands Open winner was a promising cricketer as a youth and played in the same England age-group sides as current internationals Alastair Cook, Tim Bresnan and Ravi Bopara.
He switched to golf aged 16 and within a year he was a scratch player before accepting a scholarship in the United States ahead of turning professional.
Elsewhere former European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie was amongst a group of players on four-under midway through his round along with Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and the two Swedes Peter Hedblom and Niclas Fasth.
World number one Rory McIlroy who is struggling to make the halfway cut after a first round 74, two-over par, was due out at 11:50 GMT whilst number three Lee Westwood, who carded an opening 70, was teeing off in the group after the Irishman. – Sapa-AFP