Shilton and Zheng cash in on calm conditions

Rose Zheng plays from the fairway during the Women's Interprovincial Golf Championships. Photo / Joseph Johns

Brad Shilton and Rose Zheng have made the most of calm morning conditions by carding clinical rounds of six-under, 66 and four-under 68 respectively to now lead the John Jones Steel, Harewood Open.

Horrific rain was predicted throughout day two of the Jennian Homes Charles Tour, but the morning field were dealt the better hand which assisted Shilton to now hold a two shot lead over first round co-leader Joonsang Chung.

The Auckland based professional knew they got away with murder as the rain started closing in on the Garden City during the afternoon.

"I think we were pretty lucky this morning after the weather warnings so getting away with a calm morning was a good result and to continue on from a nice solid start yesterday was pleasing," said Shilton with a wry smile.

Shilton is clearly in a purple patch after winning the second stage of the Japanese Tour Qualifying School two weeks ago, followed by a memorable third place finish at the Fiji International where he earnt a career best pay day.

"Im feeling really good at the moment, the last two weeks have been awesome for me with winning que school in Japan, and stress free, to get through to the next stage there, then obviously Fiji last week was pretty amazing with a third place and the biggest cheque of my career so far, so its nice to come back home and keep the good form going."

The 37-year-old will be aiming to continue this form through to the next vital stages of his career as he aims for full exemption on the Japan Tour.

"Im onto the next stage of Japan que school in two weeks after a well-deserved rest post Harewood Open and three tournaments in a row, so the schedule has worked out nicely but Im just excited to keep the form going.

This is only his second Harewood Open which shows a new course isnt going to stop his run of form.

"This event has normally clashed with Aussie events so this is just my second time here. Its a really nice place to play and you have to hit good golf shots out there so its a good challenge and its nice to be back."

Joining Shilton in the final group will be Joonsang Chung and Kerry Mountcastle. Chung followed his leading round yesterday with a solid 71 to be right in the mix entering moving day.

Mountcastle who is the in-form amateur on the Jennian Homes Charles Tour has backed up a great performance at the Taranaki Open to find himself in the final group once again due to a superb round of 68 this morning.

In the strong womens field, Zheng also cashed in whilst it was calm matching her first round score of 68 to now hold pole position ahead of first round leader Alanna Campbell.

Her small one shot lead is a result of her consistency but the 14-year-old proved she can go low coming out of the gates on fire with four birdies in the first seven holes to set up an impressive second round.

As the conditions slowly disintegrated the Aucklander played conservatively to close out the back nine with 8 pars and one birdie and rightfully sit at the top of the leaderboard.

Campbell had a colourful round in not such colourful conditions which included eagles, birdies, bogeys and even a self-proclaimed "triple-hit".

After writing down a nine and thinking she finished the round at even par, she was pleased to hear that any double, triple or quadruple hit only results in a one shot penalty as it isnt conclusive in know how many times you actually struck the ball.

The Bay Of Plenty golfer was six-under through six and holing putts from the back paddock during what was an exciting round before the triple hit which was then followed with another birdie to show her character and to finish just one shot behind will be a pleasing result.

With the cut being made at 50 plus ties, you can expect an exciting moving day in both fields as the Harewood Open heats up and gets back underway at 8:30am.

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Golf NZ