Ian Poulter evoked his Ryder Cup persona and picked up five shots and the lead through 14 holes on the Tirkish Airlines Open second round before play was halted for the day on Friday because of the weather.
Poulter, who is looking for his first win since the 2012 WGC-HSBC Champions, started the day one shot behind Miguel Angel Jimenez, started his rally with a birdie at the par-4 fourth, which he followed with back-to-back birdies on sixth and seventh holes.
The back nine was where he got supernova hot, as he took the outright lead after sinking a 40-foot putt for birdie on the 11th hole. He would followed that with another birdie, before dropping a shot at the par-4 12th, which he also bogeyed on the opening round.
The Englishman would get that shot back with a birdie at the par-5 13th and would then par the par-3 14th hole before play was halted at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal golf course in Antalaya due to lightning.
Players were off the course for over two hours and a restart time had been announced, but the storms returned and officials called play for the day.
Poulter had played those 14 holes at five-under and currently stands at 13-under 64. He is three shots clear of South African Bendon de Jonge, who was three-under after 13 holes and was alone in second place at 10-under 67.
American Brooks Koepka was having the low round of the day at six-under par through 15 holes. Koepka currently sits in a tie for third place with Austalian Wade Ormsby at nine-under par. Ormsby was at two-under for the day through 16 holes.
Jimenez, the opening round leader, didn’t have it going today as he stood at one-over for the day through 14 holes and had dropped down to eight-under par. He was tied for fifth place with Branden Grace, who was 3-under par through 12 holes.
The was a four-way tie for seventh place at seven-under, which rounded up the Top 10 on the leaderboard, between Irishman Shane Lowry (five-under thru 14), South African Otto Henne (two-under thru 12), Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (four-under through 10) and Spain’s Alejandro Cañizares (four-under thru eight).
Defending champion Victor Dubuisson had to have medical treatment for a nose bleed believed to have been brought on by allergies. The Frenchman shot a 77 in the first round and had six birdies and three bogeys on Friday to move to two-over after 13 holes.
Not even the benefit of having designed the course has helped Colin Montgomerie, who is playing in his 600th career European Tour event. Yesterday he struggled to a four-over 76, but at least today he was even-par through 16 holes.
Play is scheduled to resume at 8:00 am local time (Antalaya, Turkey) on Saturday. This is the penultimate event in the Race to Dubai. The top 60 in that race qualify for next week's season finale.