DANNY CHIA GOES FOUR CLEAR AT SELANGOR

Shah Alam, Selangor: Malaysia’s Danny Chia crafted a solid four-shot lead at the PGM Northport Glenmarie Masters with a second round four-under-par 68 on Thursday.

 

The local ace posted six birdies against two bogeys for nine-under-par 135 while James Bowen of the United States trails in second place following a 71 at RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.

 

Mohamad Azman Basharudin (70) of Malaysia, Englishman Grant Jackson (71), Chang Tse-peng (71) of Chinese Taipei and Thailand’s Jakraphan Premsirigorn (68) shared third, six shots back from Chia at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club.

 

Despite struggling with a stiff neck, Chia overcame the odds and put himself in the driver’s seat to become the first Malaysian to win an ADT title this season.

 

“With my neck condition you don’t know what’s going to happen. It is getting better after my chiropractor helped me loosen it so it just bothers me a little bit when I’m playing,” said the 40-year-old Chia.

 

Playing from the 10^th tee, Chia was hot off the blocks with two opening birdies before making the turn in 35. He holed a massive 20-footer birdie putt on one and added two more birdies on two and four to stay in the lead.

 

“My short game was really good. You are bound to miss the greens here because it is very undulating so you really need a good short game to save you,” said Chia.

 

The in-form Bowen maintained his bid for a unique Malaysian double after winning the PGM Sime Darby Harvard Masters in Kedah two weeks ago. His shot of the day came on the par three eighth hole when he rifled his seven iron to 12^th feet and holed it for birdie.

 

“I had two slipped ups but came back strongly with a couple of birdies. It was good to finish my round with that birdie on eight. That was really good for confidence and a great way to finish,” said Bowen, the current ADT Order of Merit leader.

 

The halfway cut was set at five-over-par 149 with 66 players qualifying for the last two days.

  LEADING SECOND-ROUND TOTALS

  Par 142 (2x71)

+Players with aggregates of 149 and better 

qualified for the final two rounds. 

Leading second round scores

135 - Danny CHIA (MAS) 67 68

139 - James BOWEN (USA) 68 71

141 - Mohamad Azman BASHARUDIN (MAS) 71 70, Grant JACKSON (ENG) 70 71, CHANG Tse-Peng (TPE) 70 71, Jakraphan PREMSIRIGORN (THA) 73 68

142 - PARK Il-hwan (KOR) 71 71, Pavit TANGKAMOLPRASERT (THA) 70 72, Nicholas FUNG (MAS) 73 69

143 - S. Murthy (MAS) 70 73, Michael BIBAT (PHI) 70 73, Iain STEEL (MAS) 69 74

144 - Pasamet POGAMNERD (THA) 74 70, George GANDRANATA (INA) 71 73, S. Siva Chandhran (MAS) 73 71, Shaun MALONE (ENG) 75 69

145 - M. Sasidaran (MAS) 74 71, Akhmal TARMIZEE (MAS) 72 73, Kenneth DE SILVA (MAS) 69 76, George THACKER (ENG) 71 74, Michael MOORE (AUS) 74 71, Takashi YOKOYAMA (JPN) 76 69, Mitsuhiko HASHIZUME (JPN) 71 74, Supravee PHATAM (THA) 75 70

146 - Mars PUCAY (PHI) 71 75, Ryan BULLOCH (AUS) 71 75, Blake MCGRORY (AUS) 71 75, Lindsay RENOLDS (CAN) 73 73, Masaru TAKAHASHI (JPN) 73 73