UBS Hong Kong Open 2016: Friday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Rafa Cabrera Bello extended his lead to three shots on Friday as he carded 65 to take him to 11 under at the 2016 UBS Hong Kong Open. 

Sam Brazel is his closest rival on eight under after going round in 66—a feat also matched by Danny Willett, who sits two shots behind the Australian. 

The Masters champion is one of four players sat on six under ahead of moving day.

Here is the leaderboard heading into the weekend:

Position	Player	To Par	Round One
1	Rafa Cabrera Bello	-11	65
2	Sam Brazel	-8	66
T3	Danny Willett	-6	66
T3	Paul Peterson	-6	68
T3	Tommy Fleetwood	-6	68
T3	Justin Walters	-6	67
T7	Danny Chia	-5	66
T7	Steve Lewton	-5	67
T7	Chien-yao Hung	-5	66
T7	Thongchai Jaidee	-5	68

Recap

After shooting six under on Thursday, Cabrera Bello put in another excellent performance to put him in control ahead of the weekend.

Consecutive birdies at the second and third got his round off to an outstanding start, and he remained undeterred despite dropping a shot at the fifth as he finished the front nine with another pair of birdies.

The Spaniard picked up another shot at the 13th and his sixth birdie at the 15th courtesy of a magnificent approach shot, per the European Tour's official Twitter feed:

The 32-year-old, who has also won the Austrian Golf Open and the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour, is hoping to draw on his experience to see out a win on Sunday:

Per the Tour's official website, he added: "I have been working on some mistakes that maybe I have done on other occasions. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong not to get the win, so it will happen. Hopefully it will happen in two days' time."

Brazel kept pace with him admirably, though, picking up a birdie and an eagle at the 12th and 13th early in his round before cancelling out a bogey at the 15th with another shot at the 17th.

Back-to-back birdies continued his strong run, per the Asian Tour:

However, a bogey at the ninth after landing in a bunker did provide a slightly disappointing end to an otherwise strong round.

Meanwhile, Willett was pleased with his round, which included a hat-trick of birdies to bounce back from an opening bogey:

While he remains some way behind Cabrera Bello, he may find himself in contention on Sunday if he can build on a positive second round.

Brazel will also have ambitions of replacing the Spaniard at the top of the leaderboard, and his consistent play thus far has set him up well to be able to do so.