Briton Colin Montgomerie sounded a warning after he shot a second round four-under-par 66 to move into contention at the halfway stage of the Hong Kong Open on Friday.
Montgomerie totalled five-under-par 135 to be four shots behind leader Rick Gibson of Canada. Happy with his bogey-free round, Montgomerie said he was well-placed and looking forward to challenging for the title at the $1.2 million event which is co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Asian Tour.
"Being on the leaderboard does send out a warning to the rest provided I get off to a good start tomorrow," the Scot said.
"If I can be two under after four or five and get to seven under for the tournament and start pressing, then it counts. There is no point doing this today and then backing off tomorrow."
Gibson added a 66 to his first round total of 65 to take the lead at nine-under-par 131. Based in the Philippines for the past 16 years, Gibson, an Asian Tour veteran, said an enforced holiday recently had resulted in him playing his best golf in a long time.
"I spent three weeks at home before coming here. I practised a lot, something I haven't done for a long time. It seems to be working," Gibson said.
In second place, one shot adrift of Gibson was American Edward Loar who shot 64 to go to eight-under 132. Swede Martin Erlandsson was one shot further adrift on 133.
Overnight leader Kang Wook-soon of South Korea and Briton Andrew Butterfield were lying in fourth place, on 134. Montgomerie, Europe's number one in the 2005 season, could have gone even lower, but he failed to take his chances missing a handful of birdie putts.
"It should have been a very, very low round if I had taken the putts. This is probably the shortest course we play throughout the year and although it is quite tricky, if you do the right things, a low score is possible," he said.
Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain was four-under-par 136, five shots off the pace.
England's Ryder Cup player Paul Casey failed to make the cut. Winner of last week's China Open, Casey had a poor first round of 74 and then made a two-under 68 in the second round. But that was not enough to save him from being eliminated.
www.today.reuters.co.uk
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