Yangon: India’s S.S.P. Chawrasia continued to show his consistency around the greens as he returned with a second round six-under-par 66 to grab a share of the second round lead with South Africa’s Shaun Norris at the US$750,000 Leopalace21 Myanmar Open on Friday.
Chawrasia, who also opened with a 66, kept the bogeys off his card again by signing for a two-day total of 12-under-par 132 at the Royal Mingalardon Golf and Country Club.
Norris matched Chawrasia’s efforts by carding a similar 66 at Myanmar’s richest sporting event, which is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO).
Australia’s Sam Brazel meanwhile posted a 67 to trail the leading duo together with India’s Rashid Khan by one shot in equal third place.
Starting the day tied for third, Chawrasia ran out in 32 after birdies on 12, 13, 14 and 18.
The three-time Asian Tour winner continued to show his slick putting touches on the greens with another two birdies on holes three and five as he made his way to the top of the leaderboard.
“I needed 29 putts in first round and it was 25 in second. In fact I putted really well on my first nine, which was the back stretch of the course and I needed only 11 putts with seven one-putts.
“Two of the longer putts were on 13th from 20 feet and from around 15-16 feet on third, both for birdies. All in all, a good two days and I don’t want to tamper with anything and just keep this momentum going,” said Chawrasia.
Norris meanwhile overcame the tricky conditions by returning with another bogey-free card.
The South African has yet to drop a shot over two days and is confident that he can continue to keep a clean sheet despite the testing conditions.
“It was tricky today as the winds were swirling around all over the place.
“They made the approach shots into the greens quite hard to judge. But if you can give yourself good chances, you can take it on from there,” said Norris.
Khan also stayed in the mix after regaining his driving accuracy which was missing in his game in Singapore last week.
“I was struggling with my driver last week but I managed to hit the ball straight this week and if I can continue doing so, I'll be there,” said Khan.
The lanky Indian started well with three birdies in his opening six holes. He hit a dry patch from the seventh hole but managed to cruise home comfortably with another three birdies in his last five holes.
“I missed several putts from seven to 13 but I recovered well on 14 with a good up and down and managed to close with two birdies. Overall it was a good round as I've stayed bogey-free the last two days,” said Khan.
Brazel set the stage alight after he reached the turn in 36. The Australian hit five birdies on the trot starting from 10 to make his impression on the leaderboard.
“There was nothing really going on until 10 through 14 where I made several nice putts and that got me going which was good.
“The greens were a little slower in the morning as there were more moisture but they started rolling nicely towards the end,” said the Australian.
The weekend cut was set at four-under with 66 players progressing to the final two rounds.
Leading Scores after round 2 of the Leopalace21 Myanmar Open 2016 being played at the par 72, 7218 Yards Royal Mingalardon GcC course (am - denotes amateur):
132 - Shaun NORRIS (RSA) 66-66, S.S.P. CHAWRASIA (IND) 66-66.
133 - Sam BRAZEL (AUS) 66-67, Rashid KHAN (IND) 67-66.
134 - Jeunghun WANG (KOR) 66-68, Yikeun CHANG (KOR) 69-65, Azuma YANO (JPN) 66-68.
135 - Younghan SONG (KOR) 67-68, K.T. KIM (KOR) 69-66, Antonio LASCUNA (PHI) 64-71, Arjun ATWAL (IND) 68-67, Keith HORNE (RSA) 72-63, Danny CHIA (MAS) 65-70.
136 - Richard T. LEE (CAN) 66-70, Ryutaro NAGANO (JPN) 71-65, Thanyakon KHRONGPHA (THA) 68-68, Jbe KRUGER (RSA) 69-67, Kalem RICHARDSON (AUS) 69-67.
137 - Wonjoon LEE (AUS) 71-66, Masamichi UEHIRA (JPN) 71-66, Junwon PARK (KOR) 73-64, Seunghyuk KIM (KOR) 68-69, Narutoshi YAMAOKA (JPN) 68-69, Hyunwoo RYU (KOR) 69-68, Yoshinori FUJIMOTO (JPN) 68-69, Prayad MARKSAENG (THA) 67-70, Himmat RAI (IND) 68-69, Yu MORIMOTO (JPN) 70-67, Nicholas FUNG (MAS) 68-69, Rahil GANGJEE (IND) 71-66, Soomin LEE (KOR) 71-66.
138 - Chapchai NIRAT (THA) 68-70, Shiv KAPUR (IND) 68-70, Berry HENSON (USA) 70-68, Mingyu CHO (KOR) 71-67, Yuta IKEDA (JPN) 69-69, Miguel TABUENA (PHI) 67-71, Yosuke TSUKADA (JPN) 69-69, Yasunobu FUKUNAGA (JPN) 70-68, Jordan SHERRATT (AUS) 69-69, Daisuke MARUYAMA (JPN) 69-69, Dodge KEMMER (USA) 68-70, Yusaku MIYAZATO (JPN) 68-70, Carlos PIGEM (ESP) 69-69, Niall TURNER (IRL) 69-69.
