JAMES BYRNE MISSES THE CUT IN MYANMAR OPEN
Yangon,
Myanmar: Kiradech Aphibarnrat is in position to win a
second Asian Tour title after shooting a five-under-par 67 for a
two-shot lead in the halfway stage of the Zaykabar Myanmar Open
presented by Alpine today.
The
Thai rising star, who was the co-overnight leader, struggled with his
putting but scrambled to a 13-under-par 131 total at the US$300,000
event which is the curtain raiser for the 10th Asian Tour season celebrations.
Northern Open champion James Byrne (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) from Banchory missed the cut by four shots with scores of 73-71 for 145.
He had bogeys at the third, fourth and 15th, while he birdied the fifth, 10th and long 14th.
Northern Open champion James Byrne (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) from Banchory missed the cut by four shots with scores of 73-71 for 145.
He had bogeys at the third, fourth and 15th, while he birdied the fifth, 10th and long 14th.
Thai
duo Thanyakon Khrongpha and three-time Asian Tour winner Chawalit
Plaphol, who shot a 67 and 66 respectively, were a further two shots
back on 133 at the Royal Mingalardon Golf and Country Club.
Marcus
Both of Australia blitzed the front nine with seven-under-par 29 to tie
for the second lowest first nine score on the Asian Tour. He eventually
settled for a 66 to share fourth place with Joonas Granberg (69) of
Finland and Hung Chien-yao (67) of Chinese Taipei on 134.
There
was heartbreak for title holder Kieran Pratt of Australia, who was
disqualified for arriving late for his tee time while overnight leader
Chapchai Nirat of Thailand shot a 72.
Kiradech,
who lost-in a playoff to Pratt last year, is on the right path to erase
that defeat but he is wary of the talented challengers, who are hot on
his heels.
“I’ve
had a lot of experience in the last few years of being in contention
and winning. Right now, I’m not thinking about winning yet because it
isn’t the last day. I have two more rounds and I want to do my best and
give myself a chance,” said the 23-year-old.
Having
shot a 64 in the opening round, the burly Thai hopes to rediscover his
putting touch in the weekend. “Whatever happens, I want to do my best. I
feel my putting stroke isn’t as smooth as it was yesterday
but I won’t do much change, just tweak a bit of my back swing.”
Thanyakon
has not tasted victory since his 2010 win on the Asian Development Tour
(ADT) and was clearly delighted to be within touching distance of his
compatriot.
“I’m
very happy to see my name on the leaderboard. The last time I won was
on the Asian Development Tour in 2010! It has been a long time. I hope I
can keep up with Kiradech,” said the 22-year-old.
Australia’s
Both needed only nine putts on his superb front nine but wobbled on his
return when he bogeyed 16 and 17 before adding his eighth birdie of the
day on the last.
“It
might sound very stupid but I didn’t play that well. I sort of hit
everything nicely on the greens and holed everything. I had nine one
putts on the front nine. That was pretty much the reason why. I hit it
okay but not amazingly well. It sort of caught up with me on the back
nine,” said the two-time Asian Tour winner.
South Korea’s
Baek Seuk-hyun, 22, took advantage of the ideal scoring conditions and
birdied three out of the four par fives for a 68 and 135 total to trail
Kiradech by four shots going into the penultimate round.
“I
found all the fairways on the par fives and took advantage of that. I
made easy birdies especially on the 14th hole when I missed a five feet
eagle chance. You need good tee shots and putting here because the
greens are very tricky,” said Baek.
The halfway cut was set at three-under-par 141 with a total of 68 players making the weekend rounds.
SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 144 (2x72). Yardage: 7,218
131 Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) 64-67.
133 Thanyakon KHRONGPHA (THA) 66-67, Chawalit PLAPHOL (THA) 67-66.
134 Joonas GRANBERG (FIN) 65-69, Marcus BOTH (AUS) 68-66, HUNG Chien-yao (TPE) 67-67.
135 BAEK Seuk-hyun (SKOR) 67-68, Darren BECK (AUS) 66-69, Arnond VONGVANIJ (THA) 68-67.
136 Lionel WEBER (FRA) 67-69, Mardan MAMAT (SIN) 67-69, HWANG In-choon (SKOR) 66-70, Chapchai NIRAT (THA) 64-72.
137 David LUTTERUS (AUS) 70-67, HU Mu (CHN) 67-70, Angelo QUE (PHI)
69-68, CHOO Tze Huang (SIN) 67-70, Prom MEESAWAT (THA) 65-72, Rahil
GANGJEE (IND) 71-66.
138 Rikard KARLBERG (SWE) 67-71, Berry HENSON (USA) 70-68, Ajeetesh
SANDHU (IND) 70-68, Thaworn WIRATCHANT (THA) 71-67, Koichi KITAMURA
(JPN) 69-69, Namchok TANTIPOKHAKUL (THA) 70-68, Danny CHIA (MAS) 68-70,
Nicholas FUNG (MAS) 70-68, KIM Seng-yong (SKOR) 72-66.
SELECTED SCORES
140 Stephen Lewton (England) 69 71
MISSED THE CUT (141 and better qualified)
142 Chris Rodgers (England) 69 73, Mike Tunnicliff (England) 71 71
143 Niall Turner (Ireland) 74 69
145 James Byrne (Scotland) 73 72.
SELECTED SCORES
140 Stephen Lewton (England) 69 71
MISSED THE CUT (141 and better qualified)
142 Chris Rodgers (England) 69 73, Mike Tunnicliff (England) 71 71
143 Niall Turner (Ireland) 74 69
145 James Byrne (Scotland) 73 72.
Labels: ASIAN TOUR
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