Volvo China Open: Peter Whiteford ends his miserable spell

PETER Whiteford ended his miserable run since being disqualified during the last round of an event in India to lead six Scots into the final 36 holes of the Volvo China Open.

On a day when Richie Ramsay started in the top ten but just made the cut by the skin of his teeth after a 75, Whiteford and Paul Lawrie both made moves up the leaderboard at Binhai Lake.

Whiteford followed his opening 70 with a 68 to sit on six-under at the halfway stage, tied for 16th and five behind the joint-leaders, Gary Boyd and Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Gonnet.

It was only the second time this season that Whiteford had made the cut and his first since he suffered an ignominious exit from the Avantha Masters at the end of February.

The Fifer was disqualified early in the final round over a ball-moving incident late in his third round. One one off the lead as he teed off for his fourth round, he had asked those close to the scene for their opinions on whether the ball had moved. But he signed his scorecard for a lower score without checking with officials.

The 31-year-old then made early exits in Andalucia, Morocco and Sicily, his best score in six rounds being a 71, and is currently languishing 191st in this season’s Race to Dubai. But he’s back on the right track again after a five-birdie haul in the second round.

Lawrie, who finished birdie-birdie for a level-par opening round, took up where he’d left off as he carded a flawless 67 to leap into a tie for 24th on five-under. “It was really cold and windy this morning so five-under was a great effort,” said the world No 44. “I hit it really solid all day and holed out very well, which is something you must do in that weather as you’re always going to have four or five-footers to hole.”

Scott Jamieson matched Lawrie’s five-under effort to sit joint-44th on 141, one behind Colin Montgomerie (72), while Ramsay and David Drysdale (72) just scraped into the final two rounds on 142. Just two shots off the lead at the start of play, Ramsay failed to pick up any birdies after bagging five on the opening day.

Boyd, seeking his first Tour win, and Gonnet both shot 67s to lead by one from South African Branden Grace.