McKibbin snatches clubhouse lead in Singapore as he bids to become Irish golf’s youngest winner since McIlroy

Tom McKibbin leads in Singapore. Picture: Getty Images

Holywood star Tom McKibbin plans to keep his head down and play his game after firing a three-under 69 to claim the clubhouse lead at halfway in the rain-delayed Singapore Classic.

The Newtownabbey talent (20) is bidding to become Irish golf’s youngest tour winner since his Holywood clubmate Rory McIlroy captured his maiden win at 19 in the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic.

“Pretty solid,” said McKibbin, who followed four front-nine birdies at Laguna National with bogeys at the 11th and 13th before bouncing back with a birdie at the 14th.

“I played very nicely most of the day, especially the front nine. A little bit colder on the back, overall a pretty good day.”

McKibbin birdied the fourth and then made a spectacular birdie at the fifth, recovering from a difficult position to leave himself a two-and-a-half footer for birdie.

He went on to birdie the sixth and eighth to turn in 31, and while he would drop his first shots of the week at the 11th and 13th, he moved to 11-under with a birdie four at the 14th.

Torrential rain flooded the greens as he came down the stretch, and while play was suspended as he prepared to play his approach to the last, he returned after a one-hour delay to close with a par.

He was tied for the lead on 11-under with Chinese amateur Wenyi Ding (18), who made eagle twos at the fifth and 10th and was five-under for his round with three holes of his second round to complete when play resumes at 8:15 am local time tomorrow.

“I just hoped we would finish it off,” added McKibbin, who graduated from the Challenge Tour last year and is projected to leap to sixth in the Race to Dubai with a maiden win.

“I didn’t fancy coming back early in the morning to hit three shots. Very happy we managed it.”

As for his wonder birdie at the fifth, he said: “I got lucky. I think the ball landed in a bunker and just bounced out.

“I didn’t have that great of stance, I had to hit the ball back a bit played for that release on the green. 

“It came out perfect, obviously landed fairly perfect and trickled down to a couple of feet which was nice.

“It’s very tricky (club selection), especially some of the into-the-wind shots. If you’re on an upslope, you don’t really know how much the wind is going to hurt it. It’s a guess, which is hard.

“Especially if you hit it too high into the wind and it grabs it, you can hit a slope and a decent shot could land 20 feet away and up going 40 or 50 feet away. It’s definitely challenging.”

McKibbin and Ding lead by one stroke from Germany’s Marcel Schneider, who shot 67 and former Ryder Cup player Andy Sullivan from England, who carded a 65. 

“I’m looking forward to it,” McKibbin said of what lies ahead. “Hopefully, go out and play some of my own golf, concentrate well and see how it goes.”

West Waterford’s Gary Hurley and Kinsale’s John Murphy shot three-over 75s and will miss the projected three-under par cut on level par and five-over, respectively.