Guthrie 'surprised' at maintaining lead in BMW Masters despite 'difficult' second day

American golfer Luke Guthrie has admitted that he is surprised after he managed to stretch his lead by four shots after two rounds of the BMW Masters in Shanghai on Friday, although he failed to come close to repeating his first-day heroics.

Guthrie shot a one-under-par 71 after his impressive 65 on Thursday to maintain a four-shot lead on a second day of cold winds gusting up to 35 mph across the Lake Malaren layout.

According to Sport24, however, Guthrie admitted that he was surprised at being able to retain his lead in the tournament, although he added that he has been playing well and had hit some good swings despite a difficult, windy day.

Meanwhile, the report mentioned that former world number one Rory McIlroy, who was runner-up at the event last year, shot a level-par 72 to remain at one-under for the tournament and in a share of 12th place.

Behind Guthrie, six players were tied for second at four-under, including England's Simon Dyson and Paul Casey, Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez , Scottish players Craig Lee and Scott Jamieson and Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, the report added.