Santiago, Chile (Sportsbooks) - Christoph Guenther carded a five-under 66 Friday to move three strokes clear of the field after two rounds of the Sport Frances Open at Sports Frances Golf Club. Guenther completed 36 holes at seven-under-par 135. This is the first event of the 2009 season on the Canadian Tour. It is co- sponsoring this championship, the 50th anniversary, with the Tour de las Americas. Rafael Gomez carded his second straight two-under 69 and is alone in second place at minus-four. Raul Fretes (69) and Walter Rodriguez (71) share third place at three-under-par 139. Guenther played the back nine first on Friday and tripped to a bogey on the 11th. However, he birdied three of the next five holes before chipping in for eagle on the 17th. The German stumbled to another bogey at 18, but came right back with a birdie on the first. He posted his final birdie on the fifth. "I didn't let my bogey at my second hole bother me," Guenther stated. "It was my first bogey of the tournament and it was going to happen at some point. I just played really steady from there and felt really good." First-round leader Hugo Leon struggled to a four-over 75. That dropped him into a share of fifth place at two-under-par 140. He was joined there by Clodomiro Carranza (67), Michael Mezei (70), Guillermo Encina (69), Alex Coe (70), Daniel Im (67), Lucas Lee (71) and Julio Noguera (69). The cut line fell at seven-over-par 149 with 66 players advancing to the weekend. |
