Kuchar takes the lead in Fiji

American Matt Kuchar has control of the lead after round two of the Fiji International.

Kuchar fired an even round 72 which included six birdies as blustery conditions continued to dominate play at Natadola Bay Golf Course.

“I made a handful of 15 footers which you just don’t count on, you kind of hope to make the putts inside five feet but even those are hard,” said Kuchar.

“It’s a guessing game on a lot of holes, there’s no blame going anywhere when things don’t go right, it’s been a challenging couple of days.”

“To think that I had six birdies is quite amazing today.”

New South Welshman Aron Price and Victorian David McKenzie shot the lowest rounds of the day each firing 2-under 70.

“I’m in a good position, I played really well. I was pretty happy with the way I had control of my swing and emotions.”

“I played a lot of shots out of the middle, you know sometimes it’s a flip of the coin judging the wind and three or four holes in a row. I judged it perfectly and holed some good putts,” said Price.

Price opened with two early bogeys but picked up the pace by the 6th hole with three consecutive birdies and heads into round three in outright second.

While McKenzie, who secured three birdies in his round, ended the day tied for third with New Zealander, Ryan Fox.

“I was pretty fortunate today that I was able to get between the gusts and fortunate enough that I picked the right clubs into the wind as well,” said McKenzie.

“I was pretty lucky in that I didn’t get any gusts that whipped my ball into trouble like I did yesterday.”

Scott Laycock, Antonio Murdaca and Nick Cullen are all tied for fifth after a 4-over 76 round, while R.J. Caracella, Lincoln Tighe, James Nitties, Peter Wilson, Alistair Presnell and Matthew Guyatt are all sitting inside the top-10.

The cut was made at 14-over with 66 Professionals ready to battle it out in round three which will commence at 8:55am Saturday local time.