Round of the tournament from Well and Beddows, while Scott-Douglas and Ankers take lead into final round

After a night's rest at the luxurious Marriott Dubai Harbour Hotel, the competitors in the Matchplay Championship, the UK's largest amateur golf tournament, descended on the flawless Els Club in Dubai for the second round of the 3 day event. With the greens seemingly picking up pace throughout the week, there is a premium on accuracy demanded from the tournament's leading players in order to make sure they find the correct level on the undulating links-style greens.

Sleeping on a lead at the top of the Men's Pairs event on 41 points was Jim Bishop and Michael Cunningham from Essex and Chris Scott-Douglas and Mike Ankers from the West Midlands. Unfortunately, Bishop and Cunningham struggled in the heat and slipped to a disappointing second round 33 points, which leaves them trailing the leaders by 7 shots. It was much better news for the Midlands team of Scott-Douglas and Ankers who built on the momentum from yesterday's opening round by scoring 39 points in the better-ball stableford format on day two. With a stunning back-nine score of 23 points they have opened up a slender one shot lead over fellow Midlanders Andy Billson and Andy Castell from Collingtree Park, who added a 39 point effort to their 40 point score from Monday's first-round.

"We really struggled on the front-nine but it was a completely different story on the back," commented Chris Scott-Douglas. "The rally started around the turn after Mike made a nett birdie on the par-3 11th. Thereafter we dovetailed really well, especially on the par-5 18th where Mike who is a 14 handicap, knocked it on the green in two shots and two-putted for birdie to give us the lead heading into the final round tomorrow. We're really happy to be in front but we realise we're only one shot ahead and it will be a tough battle out there to bring home the trophy. We just hope that the fantastic experience that we've had so far continues."

In the Mixed Pairs event husband and wife pairing of David and Tracy Morris also from Collingtree Park Golf Club, have been overtaken at the top of the Mixed Pairs leaderboard after adding 37 points to yesterdays 38. They are tied for second with Mike Perry and Samantha Hill from the Isle of Purbeck on 75 points. The new leaders are Paul Well and Joanne Beddows from Wrexham who returned a tournament best score of 44 points, which is a ten shot improvement from their effort on day one.

"We really turned it around on the greens today after struggling a bit in round one," commented Joanne Beddows. "After a 30 minute putting session this morning, I started to get a feel for the pace of the greens. Paul and I really backed each other up today and although we’re sitting on a 3 shot lead, we know we've got some really good players behind us and anything can happen on a championship course like this."

Meanwhile in the non-active event Stuart James and Craig Sullivan from Cardiff lead Mark Rose and Simon Love by four shots, after scoring 39 points to add to their 35 from Monday.

With one round to play the players will rest up before tomorrow's finale, which culminates with an elegant Gala Dinner hosted by the Marriott Dubai Harbour Hotel. For a tournament that started 9 months ago the journey will be worth the wait for 3 lucky pairs, as they will become the Matchplay Champions 2010/11.

For further details on the Matchplay Championship or to enter the 2011/12 tournament, which will feature a NEW Men's Singles event for the first time in 2011/2012, visit www.matchplaychampionship.co.uk

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For results please email results@matchplaychampionship.co.uk, and for all media enquiries please contact Gary Davidson on 01276 858 930, gary@profsports.com.

Matchplay Championship: Launched in 2003, Matchplay Championship is firmly established in the golfing calendar, and will comprise of 3 separate events in the 2011/12 season; mixed pairs, men's pairs and men's singles. Entries are open to all golfers who are members of a golf club in the UK & Ireland with handicaps below 28 (Men) and 36 (Women) and the Regional Finals and Grand Final are covered by Sky Sports.

The JRW Group: Matchplay Championship is part of The JRW Group, which comprises GreenFree, The UK's largest 2-for-1 green fee voucher scheme; The Golfers Club, the UK's #1 golf membership scheme; Golf Care, the UK's #1 specialist golf insurer; Rewards4Golf, the UK's largest golf loyalty scheme; and Insure4Sport, specialist insurance for sports coaches and instructors.