BRIAN Watts wiped the sleep from his eyes yesterday morning to build up a commanding four-stroke lead at the half-way stage of the US$250,000 Kent Hongkong Open at Fanling.
Waking up at 5.30 am to prepare for his 7.48 am tee-off, the 26-year-old American showed no signs of early-morning blues as he toured the Royal Hongkong Golf Club's Composite Course in two-under-par 69.
Three shots clear of the field after his memorable opening-day 63, Watts went to bed last night comforted by the knowledge that he goes into today's penultimate round with four strokes between him and Canadian Ray Stewart.
While Watts continued to set a blistering pace, defending champion Tom Watson of America and Northern Ireland's David Feherty made decisive moves up the leaderboard.
Watson fired six birdies and three bogeys in a 68 to lift him into joint 16th place on 140, while Feherty shot a day's best 65 to claim a share of third place on 137 with Sweden's Robert Karlsson and Yeh Chang-ting of Taiwan.
On a day when legendary Japanese Isao Aoki disqualified himself for signing an incorrect scorecard and changing wind directions posed problems for many players and made good scoring more difficult than in the first round, Spanish superstar Seve Ballesteros returned a 70 to lie in joint 55th position on 144.
Amateur champion Scott Rowe, who outshone Watson on the first day, shot a 76 yesterday, but was one of three Hongkong players to survive the half-way cut for the leading 65 players and ties which came at 145.