List in lead as wind blows Thomas off course in Jeju

World number four Justin Thomas saw his three-shot overnight leadquickly blown away in gusting winds in yesterday’s second round of theCJ Cup on Jeju Island.American Luke List leads the elite 78-man field at the US PGA Tour’sfirst-ever event in South Korea after he compiled one of the fewbogey-free cards, adding a 67 to his opening round 68 to reachnine-under par.“Any time you go bogey-free you’re really happy about it,” said List,who leads the $9.25mn tournament by a shot. “The wind was tricky todaybut I was able to save par a lot and then played solid on the backnine.”Nine-under was the same mark on which FedEx Cup champion Thomas hadstarted the day after a sizzling 63 in benign conditions at the NineBridges layout on Thursday. He was 11 shots worse as he slumped to a 74Friday.The 23-year-old PGA Tour Player of the Year dropped three shots on thefront nine which took him 39 strokes, having made the turn in 29 onThursday.He did manage a first birdie at the 10th but took six at the 18th tocome home in 35 and slide down to a share of fourth place on seven-underpar with Australia’s Cameron Smith, who had a round of 68.Eagle-eyed Casey“It was really difficult out there,” said Thomas. “I really fought backhard to get it to one-over going into 18, which was kind of our goalafter 11 or 12 holes.“When we got there, it switched into the wind. It has nothing to do withthe six shots it took me to play the hole and that sums up the day. Itwasn’t the best.”Ahead of that pair on eight-under are the 2009 US Open champion LucasGlover, who also shot 67, and fellow American Scott Brown who added atwo-under 70 to his opening 66.“It was whipping around pretty good the first four or five holes on theback,” Glover said of the varying wind whistling around the nearby HallaMountain.“But last three or four holes, it was out of the other direction and then swung back so it was difficult to pick.”England’s in-form Paul Casey started on the 10th and got into contentionas the only player to eagle the 18th on both Thursday and Friday — butin very different conditions.“Yesterday it was a driver over the corner and a soft eight-iron,”Casey, who finished seventh in Malaysia last week, told AFP. “Today was afully ripped three-wood. Then another ripped three-wood from 275 yardsto about five and half feet.”But the world number 14 then blew all his good work at the eighth, his17th hole. “I ballsed it up,” Casey said frankly. “Hit a sand wedge inthe bunker and made double bogey.”His 143 total means a share of 30th place, but the event remains wideopen with two rounds to play and 20 players within five of the lead —especially if the wind gets up at the weekend.