Local talent Kelvin Si stands out as the first from Macao to make the cut at the International Series Macao presented by Wynn with a solid round-two performance on Friday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Highlighted by the consistency of international stars and some impressive shots of local talents, the International Series Macao, an elevated Asian Tour event, capped off its Round 2 actions on Friday with anticipation building for the weekend final rounds.
Riding on his momentum from Day 1, Patrick Reed of the United States impressed again on Friday by shooting a six-under-par 64 in the second round to stay atop the leader board alone with 127 total strokes, outranking Carlos Ortiz by one shot, at the Macao Golf and Country Club.
Mexico's Ortiz enjoyed a surging form by shooting a round-two best of 61 to trail Reed, the 2018 Masters winner, at second place on the scoreboard, while Australians Lucas Herbert and Travis Smyth settled at tied third with two strokes further back after they both returned 65s.
Zimbabwean Kieran Vincent (65), Spain's 2017 Masters' champion Sergio Garcia (66), and Filipino Miguel Tabuena (67) signed off with an additional shot behind in the second event on the 2025 International Series – the Asian Tour's top-tier of million-dollar events.
Reed was the overnight leader following a 63 on Thursday and picked up where he left off, chalking up seven birdies and a solitary bogey to reach 13-under.
He finished fourth last year, while Herbert was third, so they both have unfinished business heading into the weekend.
"I think the biggest motivation is going out and getting in contention on Sundays," Reed told asiantour.com.
Chinese veteran Wu Ashun leads three mainland golfers into the final two rounds of the International Series Macao presented by Wynn at the Macao Golf and Country Club. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
"I feel like I've been hitting the ball decently, feel like I've been hitting a lot of quality putts, just the results aren't really speaking for it. The ball's not going how I want it to, so to go out there these first two days and play the way I did, I feel like that's just kind of how I've been playing."
The 34-year-old also has one eye on qualifying for The Open Championships this year with this week's Macao event serving as part of the Open Qualifying Series. The top-three finishers in Macao after Sunday will secure direct qualification quotas at Royal Portrush this summer.
Ortiz's spectacular round consisted of 10 birdies and one bogey, on the fifth. Remarkably, seven of those birdies came on the back nine, and featured four in a row from the 10th.
"It's always good when you make a lot of birdies," said Ortiz, who claimed the International Series Oman last year. "I feel like I played solid. I left myself in good spots. I drove the ball pretty well, so it's nice to take advantage of a good day."
Garcia, a crowd favorite in Macao, is also running hot recently after coming off a win at the LIV Golf Hong Kong two weeks ago.
When asked what has led to his recent purple patch, that also helped him steer his Fireballs GC team to three successive wins on the LIV league, he explained: "A little bit of everything, I guess. Obviously, the long game has been good, the short game it's improved, so it's a good mix of things there. But, you know, there's still a lot of things that I need to get better at."
Joining the strong cast of international elites having made the cut for the final two rounds are six Chinese golfers – three from the mainland and three from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.
Local young prospect Kelvin Si is enjoying the tournament of his life as he carded a second-round three-under-par 67 to become the first from Macao to make the cut at the tournament. He tied with Hong Kong's Taichi Kho, who returned a 66, and veteran Wu Ashun of the mainland, who returned a 67, at 12th overall on the scoreboard.
Another two Chinese mainland players Chen Guxin and Bai Zhengkai have also made the cut after moving to one-under following the second round of 18-hold stroke play.
"It's my home course, so it's definitely a big advantage. The conditions were really good today, sunny, with not much wind," said Macao's Si, a 22-year-old rising talent.
"I played this event last year, missed the cut, but it was a good experience. I can use that this week, and I feel much more comfortable than last year because that was my first time playing a professional tournament on this course."
