Thai Phenom Phachara Co-Leads at Maybank Championship

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Thai teenager Phachara Khongwatmai charged into contention at the halfway stage of the US$3 million Maybank Championship after shooting a sparkling seven-under-par 65 on Friday.

The 18-year-old, whose name Phachara means ‘diamond’ in Thai, marked his card with seven birdies as he shared the lead with Italy’s Nino Bertasio (65) on 11-under-par 133 on a low scoring day at the Saujana Golf and Country Club.

“I’m very happy with my score. My plan is to shoot under-par every day and play against the course. I don’t want to think ahead or compare my score to another player. It is only two rounds so the tournament is not over yet. I want to focus day by day and hole by hole.

“It has been a long time since I’ve been bogey-free. I putted very well because I didn’t hit the ball close to the hole. Overall putting was the key. Honestly I didn’t realise I had five birdies in a row. I was just focussed on each hole,” said Phachara.

A red-hot Lee Westwood of England fired 11 birdies against one bogey for a stunning 62 to lie a shot back in third place alongside Japanese star Yuta Ikeda (64), Marc Warren (66) and overnight leader Chris Paisley (69) at the event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

The sweet-swinging Phachara posted two birdies in his outward nine and enjoyed a superb run when he made five straight birdies from the 11th hole thanks to a hot putter. He was joined by Bertasio, who was in the last group of the day, at the top of the leaderboard when the Italian returned with eight birdies against one blemish.

Westwood continued his affinity with Asia where he has won nine times including the Malaysian Open in 1997 at Saujana. He is in position again to win at the course where he was a former touring professional from 1996 to 1999.

“I played alright the first three weeks of the year, I mean I missed the first two cuts but I sort of got in my own way mentally, not sure the reason for that, but today I just freewheeled really and had fun out there. Until the eighth hole, my 17th, I hadn’t holed anything over five feet. Tee to green it was brilliant, one bogey and 11 birdies, and now in contention,” said westwood.

Ikeda, the world number 43, fired eight birdies to stay in the hunt to secure a first victory outside of Japan where he has won 19 times.

“I’m very happy. I played very well with eight birdies and no bogeys. There was a huge crowd of Japanese and Malaysian fans so I like coming here to play golf.

“My short game and putting were very good but I really kept things simple. It is very important to find the fairways here to give yourself a chance to reach your target. If it was a more difficult hole, I would just aim for the centre of the green, make a two putt and leave with a par. If I’m lucky I would have a birdie.

“I played the same yesterday but I had more birdie chance today so it was very good. I struggled on the greens (on Thursday) because it was so tricky. I couldn’t judge the lines on the greens. Now I’m in a good position and I’m glad to finish 36 holes,” said Ikeda.

The halfway cut was set at four-under-par 140 at 4-under with a total of 81 players making the weekend rounds. Four Malaysian players made the cut including Gavin Green (-7), Amir Nazrin (-6), Ben Leong (-5) and Nicholas Fung (-4).

Malaysia’s Gavin Green who posted rounds of 68-69 for joint 25th position with ten other players including defending champion Fabrizio Zanotti said that he was happy to be within striking distance with two rounds to go.

He said, “Anything can happen. I’m going to keep to the same game plan, which seems to be working well. I’m going to attack the par fives and play it smart. My caddy and I have a good relationship in terms of calling out shots and club selections. I’m comfortable so we will see how it goes on the weekend.

Second Round Scores
133 P Khongwatmai (Tha) 68 65, N Bertasio (Ita) 68 65,
134 C Paisley (Eng) 65 69, Y Ikeda (Jpn) 70 64, M Warren (Sco) 68 66, L Westwood (Eng) 72 62,
135 H Tanihara (Jpn) 71 64, J Campillo (Esp) 69 66, D Kataoka (Jpn) 68 67, M Kieffer (Ger) 69 66, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 65, D Lipsky (USA) 67 68, D Frittelli (RSA) 69 66,
136 D Boonma (Tha) 70 66, A Dodt (Aus) 71 65, T Jaidee (Tha) 69 67, D Horsey (Eng) 66 70, S Lee (Kor) 67 69, S Kjeldsen (Den) 69 67, T Bjørn (Den) 68 68, R Karlsson (Swe) 68 68, P Marksaeng (Tha) 71 65, R Fox (Nzl) 68 68, T Detry (Bel) 68 68,
137 M Pavon (Fra) 70 67, C Shih-Chang (Tpe) 68 69, S Kapur (Ind) 70 67, K Joshi (Ind) 67 70, A Sullivan (Eng) 71 66, F Zanotti (Par) 68 69, S Jamieson (Sco) 68 69, G Green (Mas) 68 69, B Henson (USA) 69 68, A Lascuna (Phi) 69 68, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 66 71, A Levy (Fra) 67 70,
138 S Yates (Sco) 72 66, A Atwal (Ind) 67 71, J Randhawa (Ind) 67 71, P Pittayarat (Tha) 72 66, M Tran (Vie) 73 65, M Manassero (Ita) 70 68, J Smith (Eng) 70 68, E Pepperell (Eng) 69 69, J Colomo (Esp) 71 67, C Hanson (Eng) 68 70, A Johnston (Eng) 67 71, Y Miyazato (Jpn) 71 67, J Pagunsan (Phi) 68 70, A Nazrin (Mas) 70 68,
139 M Southgate (Eng) 73 66, P Peterson (USA) 69 70, G Bhullar (Ind) 68 71, S Sharma (Ind) 70 69, J Janewattananond (Tha) 68 71, H Stenson (Swe) 72 67, B Hebert (Fra) 69 70, B Leong (Mas) 69 70, S Vincent (Zim) 71 68, K Horne (RSA) 71 68, R Ramsay (Sco) 71 68, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 70,
140 C Pigem (Esp) 69 71, G Storm (Eng) 72 68, J Wang (Kor) 70 70, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 71, R Wannasrichan (Tha) 70 70, N Fung (Mas) 71 69, D Clarke (Nir) 72 68, P Larrazábal (Esp) 70 70, R Ishikawa (Jpn) 74 66, P Meesawat (Tha) 74 66, J Luiten (Ned) 72 68, S Kim (USA) 71 69, T Wiratchant (Tha) 70 70, J Norris (Aus) 71 69, S Chawrasia (Ind) 69 71, D Im (USA) 69 71, R Wattel (Fra) 67 73, M Siem (Ger) 69 71, A Connelly (Can) 71 69,
141 H Porteous (RSA) 70 71, S Hend (Aus) 75 66, M Tabuena (Phi) 69 72, A Da Silva (Bra) 69 72, H Chien-Yao (Tpe) 70 71, J Veerman (USA) 71 70, J Scrivener (Aus) 71 70, N Srithong (Tha) 74 67, J Todd (USA) 72 69, L Bjerregaard (Den) 72 69, B Xiao (Chn) 68 73,
142 B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 71, T Olesen (Den) 73 69, T Kaewsiribandit (Tha) 68 74, Y Song (Kor) 73 69, A Vongvanij (Tha) 72 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 69 73, L Wenchong (Chn) 70 72, B Stone (RSA) 72 70, L Slattery (Eng) 72 70, M Shin (USA) 71 71, C O'Toole (USA) 70 72, A Björk (Swe) 71 71, P Saksansin (Tha) 74 68,
143 J Kruger (RSA) 71 72, D Burmester (RSA) 72 71, M Wafiyuddin (Mas) 69 74, L Wei-Chih (Tpe) 70 73, S Othman (Mas) 74 69, Q Quek (Sin) 73 70, A Quiros (Esp) 73 70, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 72 71, M Fraser (Aus) 72 71,
144 D Chia (Mas) 73 71, J Higginbottom (Aus) 75 69, R Paratore (Ita) 72 72, R Rock (Eng) 72 72, S Norris (RSA) 72 72, R Hie (Ina) 75 69, T Sinnott (Aus) 70 74, C S (Ind) 74 70, D Willett (Eng) 74 70, R Khan (Ind) 72 72,
145 P Waring (Eng) 73 72, P Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 72 73, N Elvira (Esp) 73 72, R Lee (Can) 74 71, A Sandhu (Ind) 74 71, J Lagergren (Swe) 73 72, A Irawan (Mas) 73 72, L Haotong (Chn) 74 71,
146 E Molinari (Ita) 73 73, N Lin (Mya) 74 72, S Brazel (Aus) 70 76, R Gangjee (Ind) 73 73, O Fisher (Eng) 73 73, A Que (Phi) 73 73,
147 J Quiban (Phi) 71 76, C Kumar (Ind) 75 72, M Wallace (Eng) 74 73, M Sasidaran (Mas) 72 75, S Rahman (Ban) 71 76, L Yuxin (Chn) 72 75,
148 K Baharin (Mas) 71 77, R Nachimuthu (Mas) 73 75, Y Chang (Kor) 75 73,
149 G Kim (Kor) 73 76,
151 A Zahari (Mas) 76 75, L Weber (Fra) 75 76, G Green (am) (Mas) 79 72,
152 K Kheng Hwai (Mas) 75 77,
153 S Ariffin (Mas) 75 78, W Ormsby (Aus) 78 75,
** S Yongcharoenchai (Tha) 78 RT, J Elson (Eng) RT 0,