Veteran Kiwi golfer Michael Long grabs second round lead at Nanshan China Masters on OneAsia Tour
New Zealand’s veteran golfer Michael Long came out of obscurity to post the second round score of five-under, 67, to edge past the contenders in the Nanshan China Masters on the OneAsia Tour.
Long is without a win for many years and has been struggling with his form for a long time. The lead up to the halfway mark will come as a breath of fresh air as the 42-year-old golfer eyes the top slot once again.
Long is leading the tournament with his seven-under on aggregate and is one shot clear of the sturdy Australian Andre Stolz, and Scott Laycock.
“It is a great week so far considering that my golf is restricted these days. About eight months ago I started working for a marketing company in Perth in between playing in tournaments. Since turning professional 20 years ago I have not worked outside of
golf. It has been a great experience and I work with a great bunch of guys,” said Long.
Turning professional in 1990, Long has won just six professional events in his long haul. In 1996 he went ahead to win his first high profile title, the New Zealand Open. From 1997 to 1999, Long also participated in the European Tour events after winning
his card through the victory. He also went over to play on the Nationwide Tour and posted two wins at the 2001 BUY.COM Boise Open and the 2003 VB Open.
By the year 2008, Long had lost his playing status on the Nationwide Tour and returned to the Australasian circuit. In year 1999, Long suffered a terrible neck injury when his neck was broken in a boogie boarding accident. Due to his back to back losses,
Long started working in between the tournaments to make a living.
The second day at the Nanshan International Golf Club's Danling Cuiyuan Course turned out to be a disastrous day as the wind gusts swept the course with speeds as high as 30mph. The tournament was stopped by the organizers for two hours in the morning as
the ball was noticed to move by itself twice on the greens. Stolz, winner of the Indonesia PGA Championship, looks to be in excellent form with his opening rounds of 70 and 68.
“It was a crazy morning with that wind. It actually felt quite dangerous having a putt on the putting green this morning. I was expecting something to fly off the clubhouse and come kill us all. Luckily the weather eased off,” said Stolz while speaking to
reporters.
The tournament has so far been dominated by the Australasian rampage and the Korean and Chinese players have failed to impress the audience as yet. The 15-year-old amateur, Li Haotong is having a run of his life and has done all the right things to survive
the halfway cut. Li who was also part of the field at the Volvo China Open on OneAsia Tour and posted a round of 70 on the second day.
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