Kang, McGrane tied for lead in Australia

PERTH, Australia, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Damien McGrane birdied the 18th hole Friday and is tied with Anthony Kang for the lead halfway through the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia.

Kang and McGrane are at 10-under-par 134 after 36 holes of the European PGA Tour stop in Australia. They are one shot ahead of Ignacio Garrido, Hiroyuki Fujita and Danny Lee while first-round leader Robert-Jan Derksen was among nine players tied for sixth at 8-under 136.

Kang, coming off a win in last week's Malaysian Open for his first European Tour victory, opened his round with a 25-foot birdie putt at No. 10. He added four birdies in the five-hole span over Nos. 13-17 to get to 5-under on the day.

He added another birdie at the par-5 third hole and lost a chance at the outright lead with a bogey at the par-3 eighth to match his opening-round 67.

McGrane was 2-under after his first eight holes but had bogies at Nos. 9 and 10 -- both par 5s. He rallied with consecutive birdies at Nos. 12-14 and added another at the 18th for a 68 on the round.