Thai teenager Panuphol Pittayarat ignored the flu to snatch a surprise one-shot halfway lead at the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters after an impressive seven-under 65 yesterday.
The pint-sized young Thai broke away from a bunched leaderboard at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club in Malaysia with a seven-birdie round.
Overnight leader Joonas Granberg of Finland stumbled to a 75 in the Asian Tour event to lie tied second with Australian Marcus Both (67) and two other upcoming Thais, Panuwat Muenlek (69) and Namchok Tantipokhakul (67).
Panuphol, who leads on eight-under 136, was delighted to top the leaderboard after feeling unwell.
“It was a lucky round. I was struggling with the flu and a sore throat, but I still managed to put in a good round,” the bespectacled teen said. “I’ve been feeling down because I’ve been playing bad lately and I know I can play well. I really pushed myself last week and put in another extra 100 percent in my training and fitness. I’m happy it paid off. There are many good players within reach and I have to do my best and try not to put too much pressure on myself.”
Both was also bogey-free as he kept up his bid for a third Asian Tour victory, but lamented missed opportunities on the tricky and slick Kota Permai greens.
“That was nice. I played pretty solid and left a bunch out there. I gave myself a lot of opportunities on the greens, but they are pretty tricky to read,” the Australian said.
Former Asian Tour No. 1 Jyoti Randhawa of India battled to a 71 to remain within two shots of Panuphol, with amongst others, back-in-form Malaysian Airil Rizman (67), Bangladeshi Siddikur (70), who is second on the Order of Merit, South Korea’s Young Nam (69) and Taiwan’s Chang Tse-peng (66).
Taiwan’s Lin Wen-tang carded a 71 to sit a shot further back on five-under. Lin Chie-hsiang was on one-under after a 69, Chan Shih-chang shot a second successive even-par 72, while Sung Mao-chang’s 71 was good enough for an even-par total.
Lu Wen-teh was one of eight Taiwanese to miss the cut.
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