Teenage amateur Su Dong shot a second successive two-under-par 70 to stretch his lead to seven strokes at the halfway stage of the RMB800,000 Tianjin golf championship, the Omega China Tour's penultimate event of the season.

Experienced Chinese Taipei invites Tsai Chi-huang and Hsu Mong-nan, Hao Chunxi, Kong Weihai and amateur Wei Wei all share second place on three-over at the Yangliuqing Golf Club.

Li Chao, the two-time Omega Order of Merit champion, and Xiao Zhijin are joint seventh on four-over.

The Canadian-educated Su, who only arrived in Tianjin on Wednesday after confirming his entry that day, started on the back nine and recorded 10 straight pars before bogeying hole two. He then bagged two successive birdies and another on his last hole.

"People say this course is long, but I love long courses. After my tee-shots, I'm only using a gap or sand wedge," said the big-hitting amateur, whose solitary bogey followed a stray tee-shot into the woods.

"Today, I had nine birdie chances in my first nine holes but couldn't convert because my putting was awful. I changed my posture and it started to feel better."

Su has twice finished third on this year's Tour, including at the Sofitel Golf Championship in Nanjing, when he missed a four-foot putt to join playing partners Liao Guiming and Zhang Lianwei in a play-off.

On Saturday, the bulky big-hitter will play with Tsai, the former Asian Tour regular who won this month's Luxehills Golf Championship in Chengdu, and Hao, who will be playing in the final flight for the first time.

"I'm really looking forward to playing with Tsai, because I like to make new friends on the golf course. I won't be distracted by his experience because he's not Phil Mickelson or Tiger," said Su, who splits his time between Beijing and Vancouver. "I'm playing to win, but so's everyone in the tournament."

Yuan Hao, joint second after an even-par first round, shot a 78 to drop back to six-over. Liao Guiming, the current Omega Order of Merit leader, recovered his game to post a second-round 74 but is still off the pace at 10-over.

This week's event marks the Omega China Tour's first stop in Tianjin and the city's first major professional golf event since the 2004 Tianjin TEDA Open on the Asian Tour.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2008)