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Sports

Loar ahead by 2 in Chile

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Santiago, Chile – Edward Loar fired his second consecutive 7- under 65 on Friday to grab a 2-stroke lead after two rounds of the Chile Classic.

Loar, who won in Panama last year, entered Friday one shot off the lead and turned in seven birdies at Prince of Wales Country Club during his bogey-free second round to jump in front. His 14-under 130 bettered Paul Haley II's 36- hole tournament record set last year en route to a victory.

"I wouldn't say you ever expect to shoot that (14-under) but I've just played really well," said Loar. "I'm hitting a lot of fairways and I think that gives you a lot of scoring chances out here and so far I've been able to take advantage of it."

Danny Lee, a former U.S. Amateur champion, carded a 65 and jumped into a tie for second place with Brice Garnett (66) at 12-under, while Hunter Haas (66), Benjamin Alvarado (64), Byron Smith (65) and Josh Broadaway (67) shared fourth at minus-11.

Overnight leader Whee Kim, who fired a course-record-tying 8-under 64 on Thursday, turned in a second-round 70. The 21-year-old Korean is tied with Tyrone Van Aswegen (67), Brenden Pappas (68), Chad Collins (67), Michael Putnam (67) and Felipe Aguilar (68) at 10-under.

Kim, who tied for 11th place last week in Colombia in just his second career start on the Web.com Tour, was undone by a bogey on the par-4 12th and a double on the par-4 17th during his inward nine. Last year, he led after the second and third round at PGA Tour Q School.

Loar began on the 10th tee Friday and opened with five straight pars before recording a birdie on the par-3 15th. The 35-year-old picked up another shot on the 18th, and continued to heat up with two straight birdies after the turn.

After a pair of pars, Loar birdied three of his final five holes to find the clubhouse with the lead.

"I only had to chip twice today and I hit two of the par-5s in two so I didn't have a whole lot of problems," added Loar. "I think I had to make two four- footers for par. Obviously there are a lot good things going on."

Of the later wave, Lee appeared to have the best chance of catching Loar after the 22-year-old tallied birdies on four of his first five holes. He picked up another shot on the 18th and birdied the first around the turn to hit 11- under, but couldn't maintain the scorching pace.

Lee bogeyed the second and followed with a pair of pars before bouncing back with a birdie on the fifth. After another par, Lee bogeyed again on the seventh, but he finished his round with back-to-back birdies to grab a share of second place.

"I'm going to try and commit to my game plan," said Lee. "Last week I got aggressive starting Friday and I'll try not to make that same mistake again. My ball striking is unbelievably good right now and I'm really comfortable where I'm playing."

NOTES: Garnett missed the cut in the first two stops on the Web.com Tour ... Mathew Goggin withdrew prior to the start of the second round due to illness ... Haley is not in the field this week ... On Thursday, Bio Kim eagled the ninth and 10th, making him the first player this year on the Web.com Tour with back-to-back eagles.