JOHANNESBURG: South African Retief Goosen recovered from the embarrassment of a putt rolling back to his feet by taking a one-shot lead Friday after two rounds of the Sun City Challenge.

The ‘Goose’ added a four-under 68 to his opening-round 69 at the sun-soaked Gary Player Country Club for a halfway total of 137 with Australian Robert Allenby, Argentine Angel Cabrera and Swede Henrik Stenson joint second.

Overnight leader Allenby fired a 70 on the 7,162-meter course at a northwest entertainment center, Cabrera hit a 67 for the best round so far and holder Stenson struck a 68 for a two-shot improvement on his first 18 holes.

South African Tim Clark (72) and American Hunter Mahan (71) had higher scores than the opening round and are four shots adrift of Goosen in a 12-man invitational field.

Star attraction Rory McIlroy, the 20-year-old native of Hollywood in Northern Ireland ranked 10 in the world, continued to struggle with a three-over 76 leaving him 12 shots off the pace.

Former Challenge champion and twice US Open winner Goosen birdied three of the first four holes and parred the next three before disaster struck at the 450-meter par-four eighth.

He left an uphill putt short, agonizingly watched the ball trickle back to his feet, and had settle for a bogey five although the damage was quickly repaired with another birdie at the ninth to turn three under.

Goosen was less impressive on a back nine that delivered two birdies and one bogey as he scrambled to save par several times, but was out of luck at the final hole with a long putt lipping the cup.

Advantage Appleby

In Sydney, home favorite Stuart Appleby took advantage of an early start to race into a six-shot lead at the Australian Open on Friday as a five-hour delay due to high winds left the second round incomplete and players frustrated.

The 2001 champion fired a second consecutive six-under-par 66 for a two round total of 12-under 132 to leave him ahead of former world number three Adam Scott, who was two-under for the day after managing six holes before bad light stopped play.

Teeing off from the 10th, Appleby opened his round with two pars at the New South Wales course before play was suspended after gusts of up to 40mph (64kph) forced the stoppage just over one hour after the second round began.

Appleby, an eight times winner on the PGA Tour, returned after the break to record five birdies and a bogey in his round, highlighted by a long putt for eagle on the 18th.

The stoppage in play did not come quick enough for some players.

Australian Brett Rumford racked up a quintuple-bogey eight at the par-three second after his tee shot landed near the flag then rolled off the green.

Chan stays ahead

In Khon Kaen, Thailand, Taiwan’s Chan Yih-shin held on to his lead at the King’s Cup in Thailand with a battling one-over-par 73 on Friday but six players were hot on his heels.

The 32-year-old failed to repeat his opening round magic when he shot a sparkling course record 64 but will still enter the weekend rounds one stroke ahead of the pack with his two-day total of seven-under-par 137.

Rahil Gangjee of India charged into contention when he equaled Chan’s course mark at the Singha Park Khon Kaen Golf Club.

He finished the day in tied second place at the 300,000 dollar event, alongside compatriots Harmeet Kahlon (67) and Anirban Lahiri (72), South Korea’s Kim Dae-hyun (68), Lin Wen-hong of Taiwan (71) and Scotland’s Ross Bain (69) on matching 138s.