Poisoned Poutler holds on to a two-shot lead

Melbourne: Briton Ian Poulter battled a bout of food poisoning amid sweltering afternoon heat but emerged two strokes clear after the second round of the Australian Masters yesterday.

World No 1 Luke Donald also toiled but is still in striking distance of overnight leader Poulter, who complained of feeling drained and nauseous throughout his patient round of 68.

Poulter birdied his last two holes to finish clear of early clubhouse leader Matthew Giles of Australia with a total of 133.

"I woke up this morning, wasn't good at all. I had something bad to eat last night unfortunately, so I felt a bit weak out there today and it showed, I hit it terribly," Poulter said.

"I got myself out of position a number of times but my short game was on and I holed a few nice putts.

"So to look back at the round, I would have taken that score certainly with how I played."

Poulter briefly surrendered the lead to Giles with a bogey on the par-four 11th but wrested it back with birdies at 14 and 17.

One last test was to come as the Englishman sprayed his tee-shot on the 18th and found a fairway bunker with his recovery. An exquisite long-range bunker shot landed five feet from the hole and Poulter calmly rolled it in to keep the momentum heading into the weekend when winds are expected to turn the benign sandbelt course into a serious challenge.

Joint European and US money winner Donald had another frustrating day.

Four strokes adrift overnight, the 34-year-old Briton appeared set to make a charge with birdies on the sixth and seventh holes but had the wind taken out of his sails with a horrid bunker episode on the eighth.

After landing his tee shot in the sand, his smacked his next shot into long grass on the trap's mouth, forcing a free drop back into the same grass and a recovery that landed short of the green.

Scores