Rose & Poulter flying high in Hong Kong

While Justin Rose and Ian Poulter made their moves in round two of the Hong Kong Open, invitee Dustin Johnson looks set to miss the cut after bogeying his last hole to finish +1 and one shot the wrong side of the weekend. You can't imagine this will go down well with the hosts but at least Dusty & Paulina will get to sample the delights of Hong Kong.

Anyway, back to the other end of the leaderboard. Justin Rose shot an excellent 66 that handed him a one shot lead over Lucas Bjerregaard. Ian Poulter should maybe prepare for all his tournament with a last-minute dash across the world and no practice round, as he is only one shot back from his pal, Rose.

"So where's the party tonight, Dusty"

"Party, what party?"

"Come on, dude, no one bogeys the 18th..."

Poulter unexpectedly dropped out of the top 50 in the World Rankings this week, putting in jeopardy his ability to complete the 13 events required to keep his European Tour membership for 2016.

Cheers for the selfie, fella

So Poults had to leg it to Hong Kong where he replaced tournament invitee Rich Beem (Who's owed, at the very least, a fancy chicken dinner for his willingness to step aside for Poulter). Despite not arriving until Wednesday night, Poults recorded an opening 67 and followed that with a 66 on Friday.

Poulter, who won this event in 2010, said: "I know this golf course. I've shot 60 around here before. So although I did not play a practice round I've got good memories.

"I've had a couple of top fives in the last five years around here as well. So I know the place, I like it, and hopefully I can have a good weekend."

Rose dropped his first shot of the week on the penultimate hole of a round built around five birdies. However, he needed treatment afterwards for a hip complaint.

"My left hip is really sore," said Rosey.

"I don't know what it is. I will have a bit of physio and try to figure it out."

On his pal's chances, Rose said: 

"Ian is always good when he's got something to prove. He's probably a dangerous guy now that he's outside the top 50 in the world because he will be desperate to get back in it."

Bjerregaard has three top tens in his last five starts and the big-hitting Dane continued his fine form on his first nine as he picked up shots on the 11th, 13th, 15th and 18th holes with a bogey at the 17th his only blemish.

But Poulter was also on the charge, picking up birdies on the 12th, 14th and 17th holes and, when he put his approach to seven feet on the 18th, he too was seven under alongside Bjerregaard.

Another invitee, Patrick Reed, looks like he'll make the cut OK and is at -3. 

Now, where did I put me passport?

Selected other scores:

- 6 Matthew Fitzpatrick

- 5 Graeme McDowell, Ollie Fisher

- 3 Patrick Reed

-2 Victor Dubuisson

Missed cut:

+ 2 Padraig Harrington

+ 3 Miguel Angel Jiminez

Related to this article:

Exclusive interview: Ian Poulter: Original GolfPunk