Published July 17, 2008 on March 16, 2018

Hong Kong’s Hak Leads English Duo at Chengdu Championship

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Hong Kong’s Shun-yat “Jason” Hak carded a 4-under-par 68 to maintain a two-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the RMB 1. 5 million Chengdu Championship, the opening event on this season’s PGA TOUR Series-China.

Building on an opening 64, Hak moved to 12-under to end the day two ahead of experienced Englishman Stephen Lewton (66), a former European Tour player who won an Asian Tour title in 2014.

England’s James Maw (69) was third, at 9-under, one ahead of close friend Callum Tarren (69), also of England, Chinese Taipei’s Chiehpo “Max” Lee (69) and Japan’s Kenta Konishi (68).

China’s Huilin Zhang shot a 67 to share seventh place at 7-under, one ahead of 20-year-old compatriot Yanwei “William” Liu (68) and Hongfu Wu (70).

Hak is looking for his first PGA TOUR Series-China win as the Beijing-based 24-year-old follows up on his breakthrough season in 2016, when he finished 17th on the Order of Merit after three top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish in Chongqing, where he’ll play next week.

“I’m feeling just all right. I hit a couple of good iron shots, made a couple of good putts and that’s what it’s about on this course. I could be more aggressive on some shots and holes than I was today. I left a lot of chances out there, but that’s golf,” said Hak, who won his first pro title in China last year.

“The score doesn’t mean anything to me right now. I’ve been working hard in the off-season and I just want to perform as I have in practice and just try to bring it out to the golf course. I need to tell myself that I can do it, trust it and then hit it there.”

Lewton is making his Tour debut after earning conditional status at Qualifying School last month. He also holds partial status on the Asian Tour but is ultimately looking to make his way back to the U.S., where he had a successful college career.

“I played pretty nicely. I didn’t swing it quite as good as yesterday, so I played a little more defensively off the tees just to get on the fairways and then putted really nicely. I made my score on the greens really,” said Lewton, who eagled the par-5 seventh.

“I got a bit fortuitous off the tee. I pulled it a little bit, and I think it hit a grate on the fairway and got about an extra 30 yards. I hit a wedge in to about 20 feet and made the putt. I’ve just got to keep playing how I’m playing and putting how I’m putting, and hopefully, by the end of the week we’ll be somewhere near the top.”

The 34-year-old is enjoying himself at Luxehills, which he says reminds him of courses during his time at North Carolina State of the Atlantic Coast Conference, when he frequently faced many current PGA TOUR players, including Dustin Johnson.

“I won two titles in my senior year and beat Dustin in a playoff to win my first. We played a lot in my senior year, and he’s gone onto bigger and greater things, so hopefully I can start catching up later on,” Lewton smiled.

“I played a lot of current PGA TOUR players, including Webb Simpson, so I look up to those guys and think maybe I can get there. I never tried to play Web.com Tour after college, so I thought now, this is as good a road as any to get there.”

Zhang, a two-time winner on the Tour, reeled off three successive birdies late in his round to move to 7-under to lead the local charge going into the weekend.

The 28-year-old finished eighth and sixth, respectively, on the 2015 and 2016 Orders of Merit to narrowly miss out on a Web.com Tour card and is hoping this year he will be able to emulate compatriots like Haotong Li, Zecheng Dou, and Xinjun Zhang.

 “I played very well, and I putted well. The greens were softer because of the rain overnight, which also meant the sand in the bunkers was a little bit damp and soft, so you needed to avoid them,” Zhang said.

“It inspires me to see other Chinese players do well in the U.S. I’d like to do that this year, get onto the Web.com Tour I’d like to play on the Tour if I have the chance or if I just get a chance to play in final qualifying, I’ll definitely try.”

Every tournament on this year’s PGA TOUR Series-China offers RMB 1.5 million, a 25-percent increase over purse levels from 2016. The first eight of 14 tournaments have been confirmed, with next week’s Chongqing Championship followed by two events in May, two in June and at least two in July.

The PGA TOUR established PGA TOUR Series-China in 2014 as its third international developmental tour, following in the footsteps of PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada. Since its inception, PGA TOUR Series-China players have received Official World Golf Ranking points for top finishes at official tournaments.