Lingmerth leads Down Under, embarrassed Snedeker misses cut

[December 04, 2015]  (Reuters) - David Lingmerth reeled off six birdies in his first 12 holes to snatch a one-shot lead after the second round of the Australian PGA Championship on Friday, while pre-tournament favorite Brandt Snedeker missed the cut by a whopping nine shots.

Swede Lingmerth shot a 68 in tricky conditions at the Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast to reach the halfway stage as the outright leader at three-under-par.

Five players - England's Mark Foster, South Africa's Zander Lombard, Spain's Pablo Martin Benavides, Australia's Matthew Miller and American Peter Uihlein - were tied for second a shot further back.

Rhein Gibson, who fired a world record 16-under-par 55 at a National Pro Tour event in the United States three years ago, shot a course-record 64 on Friday to join a group of six players at one-under.

After a first round 79, Gibson slipped to nine-over after two holes on Friday but stormed up the leaderboard with five birdies and two eagles in his last 10 holes.

"To be able to do that on a Friday to make the cut and get back in contention, it's probably better than a 55," he said.

American Snedeker, who has seven wins on the elite U.S. PGA Tour, carded a 75, nine better than his first round but still leaving him languishing way back at 15 over par.

"I definitely feel embarrassed about my play the last two days," Snedeker said. "I'm going to need to come back down here and redeem myself."

(Writing by Julian Linden in Singapore; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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