CHINNARAT LEADS WITH 64 AT SOUTH KOREA INVITATIONAL

NEWS RELEASE FROM THE ASIAN TOUR
Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Thailand’s Chinnarat Phadungsil lived up to his promise as the next generation of young stars to emerge from the Asian Tour when he posted a seven-under-par 64 to take the clubhouse lead at the second round of the C J Invitational Hosted by K J Choi after play was suspended due to darkness on Friday.

Tournament host K J Choi of South Korea proved that he is still the force to be reckoned with as he blitzed through the course to go atop the leaderboard with Chinnarat at 10-under-par through 14 holes when play was halted.

South Korea’s Lee Sung battled his way back into contention with a 68 to take a share of third place alongside Canada’s Ryan Yip who posted a 71 after heavy fog had caused two hours of  play to be lost at the Haesley Nine Bridges Golf Club in the morning.

Chinnarat, who has been billed as one of the stars to look out for this week, did not disappoint as he went on a birdie blitz to put himself in prime position to end his three-year title drought with his two-day total of 10-under-par 132.

After overcoming an early bogey 5 on his opening par-four 10^th, Chinnarat played like a man possessed as he ran off three birdies on the 11^th, 14^th and 15^th holes before reaching the turn in 33.

“It was really cold when I started on the first hole. I hit my first shot onto the fairway but hit a bad second shot. I managed to recover quickly by hitting a lot of good shots and I also managed to putt well,” said Chinnarat.

The three-time Asian Tour winner, who became the youngest winner on Tour when he won his first title on home soil at the age of 17 years and five days, had an even more impressive inward-nine when he stormed home with five more birdies.

“I was hitting the ball well yesterday but the greens were just very bumpy in the back-nine and I missed many putts. But today, I managed to convert most of my chances,” said Chinnarat.

Leading Round 2 morning scores:
Par 142 (2x71) Yardage 7,152

132 - Chinnarat PHADUNGSIL (THA) 68-64.

135 - LEE Sung (KOR) 67-68, Ryan YIP (CAN) 64-71.

136 - KIM Dae-hyun (KOR) 71-65.

137 - LEE Kyoung-hoon (KOR) 69-68, Charlie WI (KOR) 67-70.

 

Selected scores

K.J Choi (Kor) -10 through 14 holes

Ben Curtis (Usa)  -6 through 14 holes