European Tour

Ballymena, Northern Ireland: New Zealand golfer Daniel Hillier made the most of his tournament invite to claim the halfway lead in the World Invitational on Friday.

Hillier carded nine birdies and one bogey in a second round of 62 at Galgorm Castle to reach 11 under par, a shot ahead of overnight leader Jordan Smith, who followed his opening 62 at Galgorm with a 68 at Massereene Golf Club.

The 678th-ranked Hillier does not have full playing rights on any tour but equalled the course record with a 64 at Hollinwell in final qualifying for the British Open this month. He narrowly missed the cut at Royal St George’s.

LPGA

American Emma Talley opened up a threeshot lead over compatriot Jennifer Kupcho and South Korea’s Chella Choi thanks to a storming finish to her second round at Massereene.

Talley was furious with herself after posting a second bogey of the day on the par-4 second, her 11th hole, but responded with five birdies in the last six to complete a superb 65 and reach 13 under par.

England’s Charley Hull carded a second consecutive 68 to lie four shots off the pace alongside Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh, who led after an opening 66 and added a 70 on Friday.

Colorado Open

Denver: After being tied for first following day one of the Cobank Colorado Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, Davis “Dru” Love IV of Sea Island, GA claimed the lead on his own after day two.

Love shot 7-under on Thursday with seven birdies, and 5-under on Friday with five birdies, and no holes over par, to go 12-under for the two days. Love won the Open in 2018.

Michael Visacki of Sarasota was tied with Love after the first day, but fell to 17th, where he is tied with five other golfers, after shooting 1-over on the day.

Jake Staiano of Englewood jumped up four places to take second, and Alex Weiss of Pickerington, OH, Brendon Jelley of Tulsa, OK and Parker Edens of Fort Collins each moved up seven places to tie for third. Joining

them is Dustin White of Pueblo West, who moved up three spots.

Marty Jertson of Phoenix, AZ and Olin Brown Jr. of Jupiter FL finished day two tied for seventh place after Brown shot 5-under on the day to move 15 spots up the leaderboard.

Eight players tied for ninth, all shooting 7-under over the two-day period: Isaac Merry, Caleb Ramirez, Doug Rohrbaugh, Calvin Mccoy, Blake Dyer, Colin Prater, Shane Bertsch and Derek Fribbs.

Of those top 16 players, eight are from Colorado.

The third round will begin Saturday, with Sunday’s champion taking home the $100,000 winner’s prize.