Marcus Fraser will take a one-stroke lead into Sunday's third-round shootout at the Ballantine's Championship with Ernie Els just two shots off the pace after the second round was completed Saturday. The $2.9 million European and Asian Tour event was reduced to 56 holes after six hours of play were lost to heavy fog on Jeju island Thursday. Leader by the same margin after the first round, Australian Fraser shot a steady two-under-par 70 Saturday to add to his superb seven birdie opening 65 and move to nine-under for the tournament. That kept him a shot ahead of Thailand's defending champion Thongchai Jaidee and Argentine Tano Goya, who both played almost two full rounds Friday at the Pinx Golf Club, as well as Briton Gareth Maybin, who shot a 68 on Saturday. “It was just very tough conditions out there,” Fraser said. “It was windy most of the day but a couple of times it dropped and came back and was just hard to judge the shots coming into the green. “It was a bit of a fluke really, but I managed to try to hit plenty of greens and holed a few putts when I had to.” Three-time major winner Els scattered four birdies and a bogey across his round to card a 69 and the South African shares fifth with South Korean Ted Oh and Australian Brett Rumford. World No. 17 Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Singapore's Mardan Mammat both eagled the par-five fourth and 10th holes on a day of otherwise high scoring, but ended up with 70s for a share of 10th and eighth respectively. Korean-American Anthony Kim, playing in his first tournament since finishing third at the US Masters, had a day to forget when he blew up spectacularly after a promising start. The world No. 10 opened with four birdies in his first six holes but a run of bogey/double bogey/double bogey before the turn sent him plummeting down the leaderboard and he will go into the final round seven shots off the pace. US PGA Championship winner Yang Yong-eun must have been resigned to missing the cut after 35 holes of golf on his home island on Friday left him at six-over-par. The early departure of Asia's first major winner and the champion at the China Open last week was confirmed Saturday when the cut was set at one-over. Storm disrupts PGA event A lightning storm and heavy rain forced the suspension of play in the second round of the New Orleans Classic in Avondale, Louisiana, Friday. Only 47 of the 151 players in the field managed to complete their second rounds while almost a third, including first round leader American Jason Bohn, did not even tee off. More than two-and-a-half inches of rain fell in less than three hours, leaving parts of the course under water and the prospects of a resumption of play impossible. Tournament organizers rescheduled the second round to be completed Saturday with the third round later that day, if the foul weather clears. Briton Brian Davis (66), American Lee Janzen (66) and Germany's Alex Cejka (67) all took advantage of their early start times to finish their rounds before the weather turned and share the clubhouse lead at seven-under par. Briton Greg Owen was also tied for the lead at seven-under with one hole to play in his second round while Bohn was also on seven-under but had not played a single shot Friday. Australia's Greg Chalmers fired a 68 to finish the day at six-under along with compatriot Jarrod Lyle, who had four holes to play, and American David Duval, who was prevented from starting his round.
