Unheralded Australians continued to spring surprises at the $1.4 million Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup as Adam Bland overtook the lead from rookie Cameron Smith in the second round on Friday.
The 32-year-old Bland, who has no tournament win to his name, rolled in five birdies against two bogeys after going out three strokes off overnight leader and fellow Australian Smith.
Bland holed out with a two-round total of five-under-par 137 on the 7,117-yard Ohtone Country Club course in Ibaraki, northeast of Tokyo.
Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng (THA) and S.K. Ho of South Korea trailed one shot off at 138.
South Koreans Baek Seuk-Hyun and I. J. Jang joined China's Liang Wenchong and two Japanese players tied one stroke further back.
"This is my first year out in Japan and I'm really enjoying myself," said Bland. "I'm definitely in a good position to chase my first win here and I'm really looking forward to the weekend rounds."
"It's a tough golf course," he said. "Five-under is good and hopefully I can keep it going."
The Adelaide native, who passed the Japan Tour qualifying school last December, has missed the cut twice in his 11 starts on the tour. His best result so far was fourth-place tie in Nagoya in April.
Asian Tour Order of Merit leader David Lipsky of the United States shot a two-over-par 73 in the second round and slipped to a 27th-place tie at 142 with 17 other players including Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa.
Scores after the second round:
137 - Adam Bland (AUS) 69-68
138 - Prayad Marksaeng (THA) 69-69, S.K. Ho (KOR) 68-70
139 - Baek Seuk-Hyun (KOR) 70-69, Liang Wenchong (CHN)70-69, Akio Sadakata (JPN) 69-70, I. J. Jang (KOR) 70-69, Hiroyuki Fujita (JPN) 68-71
140 - Lee Kyoung-Hoon (KOR) 72-68, Masanori Kobayashi (JPN) 71-69, Kim Kyung-Tae (KOR) 71-69, Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 73-67, Kiyoshi Murota (JPN) 68-72, Cameron Smith (AUS) 66-74, Marcus Both (AUS) 69-71, Javi Colomo (ESP) 70-70, Yoshitaka Takeya (73-67)
Source: AFP
