Udorn Duangdecha of Thailand remained in first place after the second round of the Mercuries Taiwan Masters at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club in Tamsui, Taipei County, yesterday.
Duangdecha made a hole-in-one on his way to a round of 69 and a combined score for the first two days of 134, giving him a two stroke lead going into the weekend.
Taiwan’s Chan Yih-shin (詹益信) also shot a 69 — including six birdies and three bogies — to give him a combined score of 136 and second place.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
Compatriot Lin Wen-tang (林文堂) moved up the leaderboard after a round of 66 left him in joint-third place on 137.
Lin managed an eagle on the third and five birdies in his round and said at one point he started thinking the course record of 63 might be within his grasp. However, a bogie at the fifteenth after he hit his ball into some trees helped put paid to such thoughts.
Luck was with Duangdecha yesterday who after what had been a rather steady round achieved his hole-in-one on the par 3 eighth and finished with a two-stroke lead.
Local Tamsui player Tsai Chi-huang (蔡啟煌) finished on 141 to be tied for fifth, while Taiwan’s Lu Chien-soon (盧建順), reigning champion Lu Wen-teh (呂文德) and Hsu Mong-nan (許孟男) were all tied for sixth after combined rounds of 142.
It was decided that the cut would be made at five over par, or a combined score of 149.
A total of 58 players will continue onto the weekend’s play. However, the weather is expected to change for the worse meaning the final two days could be highly unpredictable.
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