A spectacular six-under-par back nine of 31 helped Paul McGinley surge four shots clear after the PGA Championship second round on Friday. The 41-year-old Irishman fired an eagle and four birdies on the inward half to finish with a six-under 66 and a 13-under aggregate of 131, a record for the opening two rounds of the European Tour's flagship event at Wentworth. “I am more than pleased,” McGinley told reporters after surpassing the 12-under mark set by Ernie Els (1994), Colin Montgomerie (2000) and Andrew Oldcorn (2001). “It was a great back nine and I holed some great putts.” The Ryder Cup stalwart, who had led by one stroke overnight, ended his back nine with a flourish. McGinley struck a three-iron approach to 22 feet at the par-five 18th and sank his eagle putt to loud roars from the Wentworth crowd. Sharing second place on 135 were Swede Robert Karlsson (69) and Briton Miles Tunnicliff (65). Dane Soren Kjeldsen also had a 65 to go equal fourth on 136 with Briton Oliver Wilson (66) and Marcus Fraser of Australia (69). Robert Dinwiddie, playing in the final group, produced late twilight fireworks to clip two strokes off McGinley's day-old record for a course that was lengthened by 300 yards in 2005. The Briton closed with five successive birdies to shoot a nine-under 63 for a 141 tally on an ideal day for low scoring. Among those to miss the cut were world number three Ernie Els, triple PGA champion Colin Montgomerie, 2007 European number one Justin Rose and Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal. Briton Lee Westwood pulled out with food poisoning after five holes. He was two-over-par for the round and seven-over for the tournament. Wagner sets pace American Johnson Wagner, seeking his second PGA Tour title, defied strong, gusting winds to charge two shots clear in the Colonial Invitational first round on Thursday. Striking the ball superbly in difficult conditions at Colonial Country Club, Johnson birdied five of the last eight holes to set the pace with a sparkling seven-under-par 63. World number two Phil Mickelson, the 2000 winner, opened with a 65 to share second place with long-hitting Brett Wetterich, one stroke in front of fellow American Glen Day. PGA Tour veteran Corey Pavin, champion here in 1985 and 1996, returned a 67 to lie a further shot adrift among a group of eight players. Blasberg grabs lead Erica Blasberg fired a seven-under 65 Thursday to seize a two-shot lead after the first round of the 1.5 million-dollar LPGA Corning Classic. Blasberg, 23, nabbed four birdies on the front nine and added three more coming home as she claimed the lead ahead of South Korean Na On Min and France's Karine Icher. Blasberg's was the lowest round of a day that saw players bundled up against cold, wet weather. Both Min and Icher notched five-under 67, but the resemblance ended there.
