Rashid best placed Indian in Malaysia

Kuching (Malaysia), August 16

Two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid Khan added a second successive 4-under 68 to emerge as the best-placed Indian at tied-24th after the second round of the Sarawak Championship here today.

Rashid moved his total to 8-under 136 at the Damai Golf and Country Club.

Four other Indians, Ajeetesh Sandhu (67-70), Udayan Mane (68-69), Aman Raj (68-69) and S Chikkarangappa (69-68) were tied-28th, while Aadil Bedi (67-71) was tied-40th in the low-scoring event.

Of the 17 Indians who started the week, nine made the cut. The others making the cut were Shiv Kapur (70-69) and Akshay Sharma (69-71) and Khalin Joshi (71-69).

Karandeep Kochhar, Abhijit Chadha, Viraj Madappa, Gaurav Pratap Singh, Honey Baisoya, Veer Ahlawat, M Dharma and Chiragh Kumar missed the cut.

Thai rising star Jazz Janewattananond put himself in prime position for a fifth Asian Tour win after posting a solid 8-under 64 to grab a one-shot advantage. 

Jazz, 23, who has already won twice this season, is 15-under-par 129. He hit 18 out of 18 greens and his total is one shot better than the 36-hole score recorded in the Sarawak Championship last year.

Philippines’ Miguel Tabuena, who played alongside Jazz, also kept the blemishes off his card as he signed for a second straight 65 to share second place with Chinese Taipei’s Hung Chien-yao (66) and Australian Andrew Dodt (64).

Rashid had a brilliant front nine with five birdies as he blitzed the first half in 31 but had one bogey and no birdies on the back nine.

Dodt, a two-time Asian Tour winner, got off to a sizzling start with an eagle on the 10th hole followed by four successive birdies from 11 before turning in 30. 

The 33-year-old Australian is playing in his first event since suffering a two-month injury layoff in April.

Thai trio Pavit Tangkamolprasert, Danthai Boonma and Sadom Kaewkanjana shared fifth place for a matching 133, following respective rounds of 65, 66 and 67 at the full-field event, which is celebrating its second edition on the Asian Tour. The halfway cut was set at 4-under 140 and 72 players progressed to the weekend rounds. — PTI