"It’s very motivating" - McKibbin doubles Link Hong Kong Open lead as he chases invitations to Masters and The Open
Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland during round two of the 2025 Link Hong Kong Open. Picture by Graham Uden / Asian Tour
Tom McKibbin is motivated to try and join Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington on the list of champions and win spots in the Masters and The Open as he chases the second win of his professional career in the Link Hong Kong Open.
The Newtownabbey talent (22) found the going tougher after opening with a course record, 10-under 60 at Fanling.
But he remained patient after a slow start and fired a 65 to lead by two strokes on 15-under par at halfway from American Peter Uihlein (63) and Thai duo Kiradech Aphibarnrat (65) and Jazz Janewattananond (66).
"I probably played very similar golf, just didn't hole as many putts as yesterday," said the LIV Golf star, who birdied the first and third before following eight consecutive pars with three birdies in a row from the 12th.
"But I felt like I played very, very similar - a couple of birdies at the start and then a little bit of a par train there in the middle. But I stayed nice and patient, and had three birdies in a row, which is nice."
The winner of the title will receive a precious invitation to the Masters, while the leading non-exempt finisher to make the cut will be heading to The Open at Royal Birkdale.
Those are enormous carrots for McKibbin and the chasing pack, but the Antrim man admits that despite going bogey-free for two days, he has to maintain his focus on a tight and demanding layout where Harrington won in 2003 and McIlroy in 2011.
"Everything sort of has to be pretty good," McKibbin said. "Once you start missing the fairways, it makes it very tricky with the rough.
"It's quite unpredictable, a lot of flyers, and with the greens being quite small and undulating, everything has to stay pretty good.
"If something slips off, it'll be hard to score, so hopefully I keep everything in line."
As for those invitations to the Masters and The Open, and the chance to etch his name alongside McIlroy's on the trophy, McKibbin admitted he was not lacking for motivation.
"Yeah, probably a little bit of everything," he said. "Having those spots up for grabs, it's great.
“It’s great for this tournament, great for us players, and the plan is to try and steal a couple of those.
“So I think it's a little bit of everything is very motivating and I'm just here playing and trying to do the best I can."
Having had an excellent season with LIV Golf and on the DP World Tour, where he’s 41st in the Race to Dubai and position to qualify for the season ending DP World Tour Championship, he’s did not sound like a man planning to take his foot off the gas.
“Hopefully, very similar stuff [over the weekend] would be nice,” he said. “Think I've sort of took the approach going into this week just to sort of play very aggressive and sort of just whatever the outcome is, come the end of the week, it is what it is.
“And I think maybe I'll just keep doing that. And, you know, I've had a quite nice year. So why not just go for it?”
South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen, Belgium's Thomas Pieters, and Augusta native Charles Howell III are lurking just three strokes behind McKibbin on 12 under.
But Graeme McDowell's hopes of securing his first major starts since the 2020 Masters ended when he missed the five-under cut by one stroke.
The Portrush native (46) made four birdies in six holes early in his second round but found just two fairways coming home and shot 67 to miss out on four under.
Leona Maguire 10 behind in Malaysia
Defending champion Patrick Reed is nine shots behind McKibbin on six under, but it's an even bigger gap with the leader for Leona Maguire at the halfway stage of the LPGA Tour's Maybank Championship in Malaysia
The Co. Cavan star made five birdies in a three-under 69 to move up to 34th on four-under at the West Course at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.
But she's ten strokes behind South Korea's Hye-Jin Choi, who followed an opening 64 with a 66 to lead by five shots from China's Ruoning Yin and Australia's Hannah Green on 14 under
