May 19, 2017: Indian star Jeev Milkha Singh fired a brilliant eight-under-par 63 to seize a share of the clubhouse lead in the ongoing second round of the US$300,000 Thailand Open on Friday.
The 45-year-old Indian, who opened his campaign with a 71, nailed eight birdies to match the efforts of South African Keith Horne (67) and young Thai Jazz Janewattananond (67) on eight-under-par 134 total at the Thai Country Club.
Jeev made a massive 43 spot adjustment, climbing to T5 from overnight T48th position. He produced brilliant effort to work his way upwards with a magical 63 in the half way second round.
“It has been a while since I have shot a 63. In fact, I can’t remember when I last shot a 63. When you shoot a score like that, you just hope to build on it”, said Singh.
I tried something new this week. I have been struggling with my driver. I started to ground the driver after I won the Scottish Open in 2012. Before that, I used to have it up in the air before hitting the ball.
I gave it some thoughts this week and I decided to switch back to how I used to play. To my surprise, I am driving the ball a lot better now. It has given me a lot of confidence. Other than that, I am hitting my irons good and my short game is alright.
Everything fell in place today. I drove the ball really solid and I holed a lot of putts. I made a good birdie on the second hole today. My ball landed on the slope of the bunker and I didn’t have a shot there. I pitched it to the green and ran it to about four feet and holed that for birdie.
I had another good birdie on the difficult par-three sixth hole. I hit a four-iron to just over the pin and holed the putt there. I was three-under after nine and I thought I might as well go all out, enjoy the game and see how low I can get. I was trying to shoot as low as possible and it went my way.
I like this course. I have played a lot of tournaments here since early 2000. It’s a fantastic venue and it’s in excellent conditions. I will do the same thing for tomorrow and try to stick to what I have been working on and we will see what comes around.
Singapore’s Mitchell Slorach overcame a bout of cold to sign for a solid 66, trailing the trio by one to put himself in contention at the historic event, which returned onto the Asian Tour schedule this week following an eight-year lapse.
Reigning Order of Merit champion Scott Hend of Australia posted a 67 to move within three shots off the lead while playing partners Gavin Green of Malaysia (66) and India’s Shiv Kapur (67) stayed a further shot back on 137.
Asian Tour Release
