Golf: Aussie Allenby looks good on beautiful south

Australia's Robert Allenby muscled his way into contention halfway through the US PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines in California yesterday.

Allenby is five shots from the lead in a tie for seventh after an impressive second round five-under par 67 on the harder south course. He trails American Kyle Stanley, who backed up his north course 62 with a south course 68 to lead outright at 14 under par.

Brandt Snedeker is second at 13 under, while South Korean Sang-Moon Bae and American Martin Flores share third place a shot further back at 12 under.

After shooting four under on the opening day on the easier north course, Allenby went one better in round two on the more difficult south. Starting on the back nine, he reeled off three straight birdies after an opening par to make a significant jump up the leaderboard.

On the par three 11th, Allenby carved a beautiful five-iron to eight feet and holed the putt and then backed it up by rolling in a six-footer on the 12th and a 10-footer on 13.

His momentum was stalled slightly with a somewhat unlucky bogey on the 14th hole. An untimely loud but accidental sneeze came from the gallery during his backswing on the tee and the ball sprayed right into tree trouble. But he rolled in back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18, the first courtesy of a great 30-foot putt, to find himself inside the top 10.

When he stiffed a wedge to four feet on the third hole and converted the birdie, he was close to the lead but bogeys on the fifth and seventh holes created space once more. A precision iron on the par three eighth and a precise short wedge into the par five ninth ensured short-range birdies and the 40- year-old re-entered the top page of the leaderboard.

Allenby said: "It's a cliche but I was really just trying to make as many birdies as possible without making too many mistakes and I did pretty good at that today.

"I always seem to do better on the south."

Meanwhile, Stanley finished 4-under 68 on the south course at Torrey Pines, giving him a one-shot lead in the Farmers Insurance Open.

Stanley went over the back of the 14th green and into the hazard for a double bogey, but made five birdies the rest of the way and wound up one shot clear of Snedeker, who had a 64 on the north course.

Stanley was at 14-under 130 going into the weekend, with the last two rounds on the south.

Phil Mickelson could only manage a 68 on the north course. He missed the cut at his hometown tournament for the first time in 10 years. Snedeker had the best round of the day, followed by 65s from Hunter Mahan and John Rollins.

Kiwi Danny Lee bombed out, shooting a six over 78 to fall to one over par after a 67 in the first round.

- AAP