STRESS-FREE JAMES BYRNE GOES FIVE CLEAR IN MALAYSIA AT 15-UNDER-PAR

                   James Byrne: 17 birdies over 36 holes

NEWS RELEASE FROM ASIAN TOUR

Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia, April 26: James Byrne of Scotland shot a superb seven-under-par 65 to take a commanding five-shot lead in the second round of the PGM LADA Langkawi Masters today.

The former Walker Cup star from Banchory, near Aberdeen traded nine birdies against two bogeys for 15-under-par 129 to lead over Phuket-based Canadian Lindsay Renolds, who also shot a 65, at the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.

Overnight leader Nils Floren of Sweden shot a 72 to slip back for a share of third place with Japan’s Mitsuhiko Hashizume (67) on 135, six shots behind Byrne.

The powerful Byrne snared 17 birdies in two days at the Gunung Raya Golf Resort but he will not take his impressive lead for granted.

“I’m just focusing and playing one shot at a time. I think my scores reflect how focussed and relaxed I’m. When you are not playing well you tend to get stressed out and anxious. Being stress free is definitely the key to why I’ve been playing so well,” said Byrne.

The 23-year-old struggled off the tees but made amends with a hot putter. “I putted really well but it was a bad ball striking day because I missed a bit of fairways. Evidently you can make a lot of birdies and if I stay in the process then I think I can hit another few low rounds.”

Renolds, currently fifth on the ADT Order of Merit, was delighted to be in contention heading into the weekend rounds as he aims to win his first ADT title and boost his position on the Official World Golf Rankings.

“At the start of the year I was ranked about a 1000 over in the world and now I’m in 788^th position. That’s the best part about the ADT because it gives you world ranking points. If you play a minimum of 10 events and if you have six top-five results, you can easily get a better ranking,” said Renolds.

“Canada is the country I represent and I want to play in the 2016 Olympics. It is a long way to go but I think it is very attainable.”

The halfway cut was set at one-over-par 145 with 55 players heading into the last two rounds.

LEADING SECOND-ROUND TOTALS

Par 144 (2x72)

129 James BYRNE (SCO) 64 65

134 Lindsay RENOLDS (CAN) 69 65

135 Nils FLOREN (SWE) 63 72, Mitsuhiko HASHIZUME (JPN) 68 67

136 Malcolm KOKOCINSKI (SWE) 64 72, HSIEH Tung-shu (TPE) 68 68, Wasin SRIPATTRANUSORN (THA) 67 69

137 R. Nachimuthu (MAS) 70 67, LAM Chih Bing (SIN) 70 67, Ian KEENAN (ENG) 70 67, Anthony KANG (USA) 67 70, LEE Shih-hung (TPE) 68 69, Nicholas FUNG (MAS) 66 71, Jakraphan PREMSIRIGORN (THA) 73 64

138 David PALM (SWE) 70 68, YANG Fei-hao (TPE) 70 68

139 Clement RAMEAUX (FRA) 72 67, Shaaban HUSSIN (MAS) 70 69

140 Darren TAN (AUS) 69 71, Pasavee LERTVILAI (THA) 68 72, Iain STEEL (MAS) 71 69

141 Ben CAMPBELL (NZL) 68 73, Nick PUGH (ENG) 71 70, Arie FAUZI (MAS) 72 69, Michael MOORE (AUS) 69 72, George GANDRANATA (INA) 70 71

142 Grant JACKSON (ENG) 71 71, Adam BLYTH (AUS) 70 72, Sukree OTHMAN (MAS) 71 71, Airil Rizman ZAHARI (MAS) 71 71, Daniel BRINGOLF (AUS) 73 69, CHAE Bum-geun (KOR) 74 68, Sam CYR (USA) 71 71

143 Mohd. Nazri MOHD ZAIN (MAS) 71 72, Hans JAMIL (MAS) 70 73, Zen DHARMARATNE (MAS) 71 72, KIM Leun-kwang (MAS) 71 72, S. Siva Chandhran (MAS) 72 71, Quincy QUEK (SIN) 71 72, S. Murthy (MAS) 75 68