Published July 17, 2008 on July 5, 2018

Peterson Stays in the Title Hunt at Sarawak Championship

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Paul Peterson of the United States maintained his lead at the US$300,000 Sarawak Championship by shooting a second round five-under-par 67 on Thursday.

The 30-year-old Peterson, who is playing in his second Asian Tour event after taking a six-week break, stayed ahead of the chasing pack on 14-under-par 130 at the inaugural Asian Tour event.

The in-form Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand kept up his chase for a second successive victory after posting a 66 to share second place with John Catlin of the United States (65) and Kevin Lee of Korea (65).

Thai legend Thammanoon Sriroj produced the tournament’s first hole-in-one when he aced the par-three eighth hole with a pitching wedge from 137 yards. He ended the day on a 73 to make the cut on the number. A total of 72 players qualified for the last two rounds on 141.

A recharged Peterson fired six birdies against one bogey but the highlight of his round came when he holed a clutch 20-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole. He was delighted to rediscover his form after visiting his family in the United States.

Jazz is on track to become the first player to win back-to-back titles on the Asian Tour since Lee Westwood in 2011. The young Thai eagled the 17th hole from 24 feet to trail Peterson by two shots.

Scores after round 2

 130 – Paul PETERSON (USA) 63-67.
132 – Kevin LEE (KOR) 67-65, John CATLIN (USA) 67-65, Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA) 66-66.
133 – Javi COLOMO (ESP) 66-67, Danthai BOONMA (THA) 67-66.
135 – Natipong SRITHONG (THA) 68-67, Himmat RAI (IND) 68-67, Peradol PANYATHANASEDH (THA) 66-69.
136 – John Michael O’TOOLE (USA) 68-68, Scott VINCENT (ZIM) 67-69, Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) 68-68, Yikeun CHANG (KOR) 69-67, Mark BROWN (NZL) 65-71.
137 – Quincy QUEK (SIN) 70-67, Shohei HASEGAWA (JPN) 71-66, Sukree OTHMAN (MAS) 69-68, Suradit YONGCHAROENCHAI (THA) 70-67, LU Wei-chih (TPE) 69-68, James MARCHESANI (AUS) 69-68, Johannes VEERMAN (USA) 67-70, Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 70-67, Sihwan KIM (USA) 67-70.