Golf: Ropiha leads after heavy rain hits second round

New Plymouth's Troy Ropiha and Regan MacRae made the most of difficult conditions to set the pace after two rounds of the North Island amateur championship in New Plymouth yesterday.

Ropiha had a 36-hole total of seven-under 137 to hold the clubhouse lead by one stroke ahead of MacRae following a rain-affected second round at the New Plymouth Golf Club's Ngamotu course.

Half of the field, including first-round leader Chris Johns, of Auckland, are still to start their second rounds.

Heavy overnight rain and further squalls yesterday forced a delay, with play starting at 11am and only the scheduled morning field able to tee off. The afternoon field will play their second rounds this morning and organisers hope to complete the third round in the afternoon.

Ropiha shot a second round of 67, two better than MacRae, who fired his second successive 69.

New Zealand representative Kevin Chun, of Auckland, was third on 141 after posting the second-round low of six-under 66.

Ropiha, who lives on the Ngamotu links course where his parents are the caterers, started with a bogey on the par-four first hole, but came back with six birdies, including three in four holes on the back nine.

MacRae was two-under through nine holes and mixed two bogeys with three birdies coming home.

Chun was happy with his display, kick-started with a long birdie putt on his first hole, the 10th. He had an error-free round with six birdies.

"I was much happier today and hit the ball better. I made a lot more greens and that helps," Chun said.

"That long putt on my first hole really helped get things going. The conditions were quite tough. The wind was up from the start and it was strong on the back of the course."

Wellington representative Andrew Green shot 70 to be on 142 in a share of fourth with Rotorua student Dannie Lee.

Lee, 14, impressed by making six birdies to go alongside two dropped shots in his round of 68.

Paraparaumu Beach's Ryan Leslie shot 70 to lie in sixth place on 143. Also in the hunt is experienced Aucklander Franz Schwanner, who countered an opening round of 75 with 69.

Schwanner shares seventh place with New Zealand representative Jae An, Auckland's Joonsang Chung and Bay of Plenty No 1 Mark Smith, all on 144.

- NZPA