Pan powers into Australia Classic lead

China's Pan Yanhong flexed her way to the top of the Australia Classic leaderboard on Saturday as the former powerlifter fired a seven-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the A$150,000 tournament.

The Heibei native was 11-under 133 through 36 holes at Twin Creeks Golf & Country Club, just ahead of Australian Rebecca Artis (69) in the co-sponsored China LPGA Tour and the Australian Ladies Professional Golf event.

China's Ye Ziqi (67) was three shots off the pace in third, while Malaysian Michelle Koh (67) was a shot further back. China's Zhang Weiwei was fifth after her second consecutive round of 69, and overnight co-leader Sarah Oh of Australia dropped to sixth after ballooning to a 74, six strokes back.

Starting the day three strokes behind the leaders, the 31-year-old Pan came out firing with four birdies in her first seven holes. After dropping bogey fives at holes eight and 10, she rebounded with an eagle three at the 11th hole.

She then picked up another stroke at the 12th, before reeling off three consecutive birdies starting from the 15th hole. Pan ended her impressive round with a bogey five at the last.

"I arrived in Sydney with a feeling that I could play very well here. Today, my putting was very hot with only 25 putts for the round. I teed off with the two leaders [Oh and Artis] so this put me in the chasing position, especially over the front nine where I tried to get birdies," said Pan, a four-time winner on the China LPGA Tour.

"This is my first time playing in the leading group at an overseas tournament. Tomorrow I will continue to be aggressive and not be conservative, try my best and maybe get the championship."

Pan paid tribute to Howard Xue, a Twin Creeks member who was acting as her caddie. She said the Chinese immigrant had played a big part in her performance this week.

"Howard's given me a lot of help, but mostly he can give some good suggestions. He's a local member and he knows the course really well. When I'm not playing very well Howard makes me relax. He thinks that's important, especially when a player is playing overseas."

Overnight co-leader Artis looked as if she could run away with the tournament early when she birdied her opening hole and then eagled the par-four third to quickly get to 10-under. After picking up another stroke to get to 11-under at the sixth hole, she bogeyed the ninth hole to make the turn at 33. She got back to 11-under with a birdie at the 11th hole, but could then only muster par golf back to the clubhouse before closing with a bogey five at the last to fall a shot back of Pan.

"Yes, it was a nice way to start, birdie, par, eagle. I hit a great shot into the first, into about three inches, just a wedge in my hand. Then hit another good shot into the second and the putt lipped out on me. Then made a 25 footer for eagle on the drivable par four," she said.

"I played pretty solid the back nine, birdied the 12th, then missed an opportunity on 13, which was a little disappointing, then bogeyed the 18th. Eighteen played long today, hit driver, three-iron, then didn't get up and down."

With her lone pro victory coming in Sweden, Artis said she was happy to be in the mix to claim her first win on home soil.

"Yeah looking forward to it, just go out and play the golf course and see what happens," she said. "It would be great. Any event you can win in Australia is fabulous, at home, you know. For it to be the first Australia Classic it would be awesome."

China national team member Ye, an 18-year-old from Dalian, put herself into contention with a round that included seven birdies and two bogeys.

"My approach shots were quite good today, so it gave me a lot of chances to get birdies," said the rookie pro. "The putting was better than yesterday. The first round I missed a lot of short putts but today I was getting the opportunities and that gave me a chance."

With tomorrow being her first time playing in the leading group, Ye said she would be both excited and nervous. "I won't think too much about it, just to focus on my game. I'm an aggressive player, but tomorrow I will try to play a bit conservative to have a chance." Endit