Michael Campbell leads in Hong Kong as Rory McIlroy misses cut

New Zealand's Michael Campbell's resurgence continued at Fangling today, as he shot a sparkling 64 to grab the outright lead of the UBS Hong Kong Open.

Defending champion and world number one Rory McIlroy missed the cut as he crashed to a five-over-par total.

"The wind was tricky ... I think a bit of putting practise is required in Dubai," said the Ulsterman, who suggested mental tiredness may have played its part.

After shooting a 67 yesterday, Campbell's six-under-par round put him one clear of China's Zhang Lian-wei on nine-under.

The Chinese star carded another 66 to tie for second place with Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez (67) and Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed (66).

Javier Colomo of Spain, who led after the first round, shot a disappointing one-over-par 71, though he remains in the hunt on five-under, four shots off the leader.

For Campbell, the 2005 US Open champion, leading at the halfway stage of a golf tournament is a step forward.

After his victory at Pinehurst, he then made just four cuts in two years and slid outside the top 1,000 on the Official World Golf Ranking.

The 43-year-old is now up to 339th thanks in large part to his third-place finish at the recent Portugal Masters.

Meanwhile, Merrick Bremner equalled the course record to lead after the first day of the SA Open Championship, the other European Tour event taking place this week.

The South African carded a flawless eight-under-par 64 to lead Henrik Stenson of Sweden and fellow South African Matthew Carvell by two.

"I made the turn and started thinking a bit more and playing clever golf rather than showing too much aggression," he conceded.

"I wanted to hold my round together and post a decent score, and not come in with five or four under. So I played more conservatively."

Alex Haindl was three down while 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, Darren Fichardt and Michiel Bothma were among a host of players at four-under.

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