Australia's Kevin Yuan leads American trio in Beijing

Australia's Kevin Yuan fired a bogey-free, 7-under 65 to move to 11-under and secure a one-shot lead over three Americans at the halfway stage of this week's RMB 1.6 million Beijing Championship.

Americans Max McGreevy and Ryann Ree each shot 64 to share second, along with Matthew Negri, who shot 65 at the Ian Woosnam-designed Topwin Golf and Country Club.

Yuan is playing his second full year on the Tour and despite not yet recording a top-10, he did make 10 out of 12 cuts in 2018 and is leading a Tour event for the first time in his young career.

The 22-year-old from Sydney has had a strong opening over the first two days, picking up 14 birdies, with only one bad hole—a triple bogey on hole 14 in the opening round.

"The last two days I've been playing really good. When I get an opportunity, I've been making the putts, which really helps. Also, I've been hitting my driver really well," said Yuan. "My gameplan was to just give myself as many opportunities as I could, and there were a couple easy par-5s and short par-4s which I capitalized on today."

This year, Yuan has been steadily improving. After missing the cut at the season-opening Chongqing Championship, he tied for 54th in Sanya and followed that with a tie for 26th at the Haikou Championship.

Yuan, who turned pro in 2017, is chasing his first professional victory and will be hoping to feed off his playing partners this weekend when he tees off in the final group at 10:20 a.m. alongside Negri and Ree.

"I think I'll be a little nervous but I'm also definitely excited. I think it will be super good for me to play with other players who are obviously playing well, so that will be a good experience. I'm looking forward to it," said Yuan. "I have never won a professional tournament, so this is exciting. I need to make every shot count this weekend."

Did you know that Kevin Yuan's full Chinese name is Yuan Ko Wei, and he speaks fluent Chinese.

Key Information

The course this week is a par-72 totaling 7,178 yards.

The cut line was at 2-under.

Kevin Yuan has birdied four holes twice through 36 holes: the par-4 first and fifth holes, the par-3 sixth hole and the par-5 12th. His other birdies Friday came at the 11th, 14th and 17th holes.

Order of Merit leader David Kocher improved on an opening-round 72 to shoot a 68 and easily make the cut. He currently lies in a tie for 41st.

Defending champion Peter Campbell of Canada also bounced back nicely after an opening-round 72 to card a 67 and now lies in a tie for 28th.

There are two other Australians inside the top 20. Tim Stewart is tied for 15th, and Max McCardle is tied for 20th. McCardle started his round on hole 10 and had the shot of the day when he chipped in for eagle on the 18th.

Americans Max McGreevy, Ryann Ree, and Matthew Negri are all chasing their first PGA TOUR-affiliated victories. They are all tied for second, one shot behind Kevin Yuan.

Max McGreevy was part of the winning Oklahoma Sooner NCAA Championship team in 2017. McGreevy was crucial in the win, clinching the final point for the team when he defeated Oregon's Edwin Yi, 3 and 2.

Max McGreevy was teammates with former Series player Charlie Saxon, and McGreevy played a full year on the Web.com Tour in 2018.

Ryann Ree made 10 out of 13 Tour cuts in 2018 and finished 26th on the Order of Merit. Ree finished solo fourth at the 2018 Beijing Championship, with rounds of 68-68-68-70.

Hong Kong's Shunyat Hak improved nine strokes from the first and second rounds. After an opening-round 74, Hak shot a second-round 65. He now lies in a tie for 27th.