Eddie Lee added a six under 66 to his first-day 65 and was sharing second place in the BMW Asian Open golf tournament in Shanghai after the second round yesterday.
The Christchurch golfer was in the first group out on the Thomson Club course in the $US1.5 million ($2.08 million)
co-sanctioned Asian and European Tour event.
Lee, 21, was four strokes behind leader and world No 3 Ernie Els, who added a 62 to his opening round 67.
Els eagled the last hole after using a four iron to hit through a gap in the trees to just 20cm from the cup.
Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and England's Simon Wakefield, who was out in the same group as Lee, are in third place on 8-under.
Lee, Els and Wakefield were among seven players tied for the lead on 5-under at the start of the day.
Lee had missed the cut in all 10 events he had contested this year before Shanghai. Lee booked a place for the final two rounds with an eagle, 10 birdies and just the one dropped shot in the first two days.
"It's nice to be playing on the weekend although actually I did get to play on Saturday last week as the second round of the Johnnie Walker Classic didn't end until Saturday morning," Lee joked. "Seriously, I knew it would be only a matter of time. I am hitting the ball really nicely and today I putted a lot better.
"I was up at 4.30 this morning, which wasn't all that much fun but I just got on with the job and I am happy with most aspects of my game.
"But I knew my game would come around, though it has taken until the end of April for that to happen, and it's nice to be right up there on the leader board."
Lee said his Christchurch coach, Shane Scott, helped him to turn things around.
"Shane is also a really good friend of mine and three weeks ago we decided to go back to the basics and it's starting to work," Lee said. "I played in China and Indonesia recently where my game started taking a turn for the better, with my ball-striking a lot better but it's just that my scoring game just wasn't there.
"I knew when my scoring game came around, as it has this week, it would all click in.
"There's never been a time this year when I have felt so frustrated that I would kick the hotel door in and I have stayed patient all these months and I'm now looking forward to the weekend."
Michael Campbell is continuing to struggle just a week after sharing third place in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Beijing.
He began with a 73 and carded a second-round 71 yesterday to make the cut.
- NZPA
New Zealander Eddie Lee says he knew his game would 'come around'.
Eddie Lee added a six under 66 to his first-day 65 and was sharing second place in the BMW Asian Open golf tournament in Shanghai after the second round yesterday.
The Christchurch golfer was in the first group out on the Thomson Club course in the $US1.5 million ($2.08 million)
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