January 17, 2014: Thailand’s Prom Meesawat and Swede Rikard Karlberg maintained their lead at the King’s Cup on Friday at Black Mountain Golf Club. The duo posted eight-under 71 to be joint leaders at US$1 million event in Hua Hin.
India’s Anirban Lahiri finished his Friday’s round with five-under 70 to enter the weekend as best placed Indian in the tournament. While, SSP Chowrasia(70-73), Rahil Gangjee(71-71) and Jyoti Randhawa(70-75) are the other Indians to make the cut and will play the weekend.
Hung Chien-Yao of Taipei emerged with the best score of the day, five under 67 to lie at 9th place after two rounds.
Korea’s Mo Joong-kyung showed he is capable of matching his younger rivals stride for stride when he got back into the groove with a four-under-par 68 to end one shot behingd the tournament leaders. The 42-year-old Korean’s disciplined fitness regime paid off as he took his place at the top with a two-day total of seven-under-par 137 at the Asian Tour season-ending event held at the Black Mountain Golf Club.
Japan’s Kodai Ichihara, struggling to retain his tour card gave himself a glimmer of hope of landing his maiden Asian Tour title when he posted a 68 in the Friday’s round.
Indians likely to miss the cut mid-way at the tournament are Chirag Kumar, Anubhav Lohan, Digvijay Singh, Sujjan Singh and Himmat Rai. The cut mark was projected at 2-over.
Prom is upbeat about returning to the winner’s circle for the first time after a gap of 8 years since 2006.
“It’s going to be a tough weekend as the door is still open for everyone. I just want to maintain my composure and get an under-par score for the next two days,” said Prom.
Prom gunning for a place in inaugural Eurasia Cup, which will tee off in Malaysia in March, do not want to give up till end.
“I know I still have an outside chance of earning my place in the EurAsia Cup and if I do well this week, the result will basically take care of that,” said Prom.
Karlberg staged a late comeback with two birdies in his last three holes to deny home favourite Prom the outright lead.
The two-time Asian Tour winner struggled under gusty conditions and was two-over in his second round after 12 holes. However, a birdie on the 13th managed to restore some measure of confidence for the Swede.
“It was a horrible round for 12 holes. I really struggled. I didn’t play well and the putts didn’t fall,” said Karlberg.
“But the wind came down the right way on 17 and 18 and I was glad I finished off well,” added Karlberg.
