Wei thrilled home fans with a birdie at the 18th hole to take a share of a one-stroke lead after the second round of the $2.3 million Asian Open on Friday. Zhang fired a near-flawless three-under 69 in blustery conditions at the Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club, to join Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen on a five-under total of 139, one ahead of Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke. Holding par amid swirling, gusty winds for 10 consecutive holes, Zhang picked up birdies on the 11th and 12th, before signing off in style, holing a 20-foot birdie on the 18th. Joint leader Derksen also proved solid in the wind, charging out of the blocks with two consecutive birdies in his first two holes. He picked up three further birdies bit two bogeys left him three-under for the day. After costly missed putts on Thursday, Clarke found some timely form on the greens, sinking three birdies in a five-hole flurry late in his round of 69. Overnight leader Peter O'Malley of Australia was unable to repeat his sparkling first round, slipping to a 74 to reach the clubhouse two strokes behind the leader. The Australian finished tied for third place on 141 with Briton Miles Tunnicliff, who carded a two-under 70. Twice US Open champion Retief Goosen is one shot further adrift, alongside Asian tour of merit leader Mark Brown of New Zealand. Tied for second overnight, Sweden's Henrik Stenson and Jeev Milkha Singh of India each struggled with four-over 76s to be five off the pace at even par with Australia's Greg Norman. Zhang's patient round completed a banner day for China, after Chinese number one Liang Wenchong and 18-year-old amateur Hu Mu earlier broke par to move into contention three strokes behind the leaders. Li Chao was China's fourth player to make the cut, set by organizers at three-over 147. Britain's David Howell, at four over, and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez, a further stroke in arrears, failed to make the weekend field. Three share lead In Texas, Australian Mathew Goggin and Americans Ryan Moore and Eric Axley fired matching three-under-par 67s to take the lead after the first round of the Byron Nelson Championship on Thursday. Swede Jesper Parnevik, the 2000 champion, and Australian Adam Scott were in a group of eight players who shot 68. Goggin, who mixed birdies at the fifth, sixth, seventh, 10th and 12th with bogeys at the second and 14th, is still looking for his first PGA victory. Trevor Immelman, in his first competitive outing since winning the Masters earlier this month, blamed his victory celebrations and a host of subsequent media commitments after ballooning to an eight-over 78. Ueda joins two on top In Miami, Japan's Momoko Ueda and South Korea's Young Kim are part of a trio that lead a group of seven by one stroke after the opening round of the LPGA Stanford Invitational on Thursday. Rookie Ueda fired a three-under 68 to join Kim and American Paula Creamer at the top of the leaderboard. Ueda rolled in six birdies and made bogey three times. Twenty players shot under par in the first round - including Annika Sorenstam, who signed for a two-under 69 to pull into a seven-way tie for fourth place. Taiwanese rookie Yani Tseng, who finished second at last week's event, is one shot off the pace with a first
