MELBOURNE, December 16, 2011 (AFP) - England's Ian Poulter battled a stomach bug but held on to a two-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Australian Masters at the Victoria Golf Club on Friday.
Poulter added 68 to his opening 65 to be nine under after 36 holes, two shots clear of local golfer Matt Giles.
Poulter was happy just to get through the round without being physically ill.
"I woke up this morning and wasn't feeling too good. I don't know if it was something I ate," he said.
"I was struggling out there this morning even before I got to the range. I would have taken 68 before I set off today. I just got a bug and hopefully I'm through it so I can come out strong tomorrow."
"It was ugly, very ugly" Poulter said of his round.
"I hit a few poor tee shots and second shots but I managed to recover really well and get myself out of trouble. That's what you've got to do if you miss greens around this golf course."
The Englishman was delighted to finish the round by holing two birdie putts.
Poulter has made no secret of the fact he wants to collect as many world ranking points in his season-ending tournament.
There is a premium attached to this week in terms of ranking points with world number one Luke Donald in this week's field.
Donald is conceding Poulter a six-shot break with 36 holes to play.
The Australian Masters may pale beside Donald's history-making achievements this year, but he is nothing if not a proud man.
After successive birdies, momentum was with him walking to the eighth tee - a testing 443-metre par four.
But his tee shot caught a bunker on the left-hand side of the fairway.
Faced with a shot of about 160 metres to the edge of the green he went with an eight iron over the lip.
"I thought I hit a pretty good shot but it missed clearing the lip by six or eight inches and got embedded in the bank," Donald said.
Forced to take a penalty drop he ended up signing for a six.
"It was a little bit of a momentum killer," he said. Donald battled on manfully and signed for a second round 70 to be three under for the championship.
Donald remains confident he can bridge the gap with Poulter over the weekend.
"I'm still in a decent position. Ian looks like he's playing quite well. I just need to get the putter going," he said.
Donald played behind Poulter Friday and said he saw him hit a few loose shots.
"But he's good at scrapping around when he has to and that is always the mark of a good player," Donald said.
"It's a little bit frustrating, to be quite honest. I played a lot better today than I did the first day. I just did not get a lot out of it.
"I hit a lot of good shots today. I've just been struggling on the greens. I'm finding it hard to pick the line and I'm missing my chances," said the man who created history by winning the 2011 European and USPGA money lists.
"I've still got a good chance and I'm looking forward to the weekend."
Defending champion Stuart Appleby was forced to withdraw on Friday with a back injury.
Second round scores from the Australian Masters at the par-71, 6297-metre Victoria Golf Club course in Melbourne on Friday (Australian unless stated):
133 - Ian Poulter (ENG) 65-68
135 - Matthew Giles 67-68
136 - Ashley Hall 66-70
137 - Brendan Jones 69-68, Nathan Green 69-68, Brent McCullough 71-66, Kieran Pratt 67-70, Geoff Ogilvy 71-66, Peter Lonard 67-70
138 - Doug R Holloway (NZL) 71-67, Peter Fowler 71-67, Mahal Pearce (NZL) 67-71, Jarrod Lyle 67-71
139 - Cameron Percy 70-69, Greg Chalmers 69-70, Peter Senior 69-70, James Nitties 69-70, Luke Donald (ENG) 69-70, Marcus Fraser 70-69, Steven Bowditch 70-69
140 - Daniel Beckmann 73-67, John Senden 70-70, Phil Tataurangi (NZL) 69-71, Nicholas Cullen 72-68, Steve Jones 71-69, Brad Kennedy 71-69, Gareth Paddison (NZL) 69-71
Selected scores
143 - Matteo Manassero (ITA) 76-67, Robert Allenby 73-70, Will Strickler (USA) 73-70
144 - Peter Tomasulo (USA) 71-73
145 - Jeff Maggert (USA) 70-75
148 - Michael Campbell (NZL) 72-76
155 - Byron Meth (USA) 74-81
Stuart Appleby withdrawn (back injury)
Halfway cut made at +2 (144)