Golf: Schoolboy teaches lesson to adult rivals

Fifteen-year-old Chan Young Chung played with the best at Titirangi yesterday - and bettered them.

The Wellington College student from the Shandon Golf Club in the Hutt Valley shot a course record six-under-par 64 in the blustery wind for a 36-hole total of 136, and a share of the lead, in the national strokeplay championship with South African Nicol van Wyk, who had a second-round 65.

Seventeen-year-old Zoe Brake from Whakatane, meanwhile, holds on to a two-shot lead over Emily Perry from the Lochiel Club in Hamilton as the women's event at Remuera moves into its final 36 holes today.

Chung, who came to New Zealand from Korea six years ago, played with overnight leader Peter Spearman-Burn and the top world amateur Australian Scott Arnold. Spearman-Burn slipped back with a 76, while Arnold shot 71.

"I kept the ball really low in the wind and hit some good shots," said Chung. "I played with two great guys and I tried to keep up with them."

He did much more than that with seven birdies and only one blemish on the par-four 17th. But he shrugged off that by birdying the last with a six-metre putt.

Perhaps his best shot brought a birdie on the par-five 13th where he hit his third shot from a divot to three metres and holed the putt.

Van Wyk was a member of the South African team at last week's Southern Cross tournament at Wairakei. He birdied four of the first five holes, playing like Chung in the worst of the conditions.

Two behind the leaders, 22-year-old Mathew Perry from Hamilton is alone in third place after adding a 71 to his first-round 67. He was called up to the tournament at the last minute after his original entry went astray but has quickly come to terms with a course he learnt well as caddie for his friend Mark Purser, now a professional.

Brake was unable to match her first-round 68 on a tough day at Remuera. She had a 75 to Perry's 76. One shot further back is Charlotte Brooks from Walton. The best round of the day was a one-under 72 by 11-year-old Lydia Ko (Pupuke).

The women play their final 36 holes today. The men play 18 today and 18 tomorrow.