Dec 20, 2019: Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai knows he has to continue to stay patient after carding a second round seven-under-par 64 to hold a one-shot lead over Belgium’s Thomas Detry at the season-ending Thailand Masters on Friday. Ajeetesh Sandhu of India in contention lying at T4 with just three strokes behind Phachara.
Ajeetesh Sandhu carded a five under par round of 66 to stay in the hunt heading into the weekend. Sandhu carded total seven birdies and two bogeys with five birdies and a lone bogey in the front nine and one birdie and one bogey in the back nine. Sandhu added five-under-par 66 to his first round 67 to score 9-under-par total.
Other fellow Indians S.S.P Chowrasia and Jyoti Randhawa are trailing Ajeetesh in the field at T48. Chowrasia carded 2-under-par 69 with three birdies and a lone bogey, where as Randhawa carded par round of 71 with three birdies and equal number of bogeys and lying at three-under total.
While Phachara has yet to achieve his breakthrough on the Asian Tour, the 20-year-old Thai remains optimistic of his chances as he is coming into the week on the back of a rich vein of form with three top-six finishes in his last three events.
Starting his round on the 10th hole, Phachara stormed off the blocks quickly with two birdies in his opening three holes. He added another birdie on 16 before storming home with four more birdies to sign for a two-day total of 12-under-par 130 at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club.
Overnight leader Detry beat fatigue to remain in contention by returning with a 68 to take second place while Thai rookie Kosuke Kamamoto also put himself in the mix by matching Phachara’s 64 for outright third place.
Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-hsuan showed his promising talent when he carded a 67 to make his move up the leaderboard in the morning.
Wang turned professional only this year and showed he could be one of the rising stars to look out as he heads into the weekend tied for fourth.
The weekend cut was set at two-under-par with 84 players progressing into the final two rounds.
Asian Tour Release
