Johor Bahru: Daniel Chopra will relish a second chance to lift the Iskandar Johor Open after taking a slim lead over the chasing pack into tomorrow’s deciding round.
The 38-year-old Swede, who was pipped to the title by Joost Luiten last year, made the best of a clean start on Saturday morning to post a flawless second round six-under 66 at Horizon Hills Golf & Country to set the halfway mark at 10-under 134.
Lightning threats disrupted much of the afternoon play before a brief weather respite allowed the second round to be completed late evening. The suspension however left the organisers with little choice but to shorten the US$2 million Asian Tour season-finale to 54 holes for the second successive year.
A runner-up himself in the 2009, Chapchai Nirat, signed off with a bogeyless 67 to trail Chopra by one shot; the burly Thai draining two of his five birdies after the three-hour and fifteen minutes weather delay.
Filipino veteran Antonio Lascuna registered his second successive 68 to keep his hopes of a maiden Asian Tour title alive, lying in tied third alongside South Korean Uhno Park (71), SSP Chowrasia (69) of India and joint overnight leader David Lipsky (73) of the United States.
Six others, including tournament top draw Sergio Garcia are bunched up in joint seventh on seven-under 137 with only five strokes separating the top-25 in a tightly-balanced leaderboard.
The local challenge was spearheaded by national amateur champion Gavin Kyle Green, who lies joint 13th after returning early to register a four-under 68 for a 138 overall. Four Malaysian professionals also advanced into the final round, namely S. Sivachandhran (70), Danny Chia (67), R. Nachimuthu (71) and Sukree Othman (73).
Chopra, who won his first professional title at the 1993 Johor Open, did not start his second round on Friday and was delighted to complete his round right at the dot when the sirens blew for a play suspension at 1.45pm that lasted nearly three hours.
“I’m very lucky to be able to putt out on the last. I’ll get another afternoon off and watch it rain. It was almost similar on the first day where we were the last group to finish. I was on the good side of the draw this time but I’ve been on the bad side before. It all evens out but it is definitely an advantage,” said Chopra.
Chapchai will be hoping his new born baby boy will provide him with the impetus to translate two top-10s into a win this season.“I want a good result for my new born son, who we welcomed in our family last week. It doesn’t matter if I win or not but I want to play well for him. It has been quite a while since I saw my name on top the leaderboard,” said Chapchai who has nicknamed his son, ‘Jedi’.
“I don’t know if I can win or not but you never know because I might get lucky and the shots start dropping. More importantly I will try and play well for my son,” said Chapchai.
Lascuna will be bidding to go one better after he claimed his second runner-up finish in six seasons on the Asian Tour in September this year.
The 41-year-old has been knocking on the winner’s door on several occasions and a victory at the season-ending event will provide the befitting finale for all his hard work this year.
“My putting was good and my driving was smooth. The course is playing long for me because of the wet conditions but overall I’m happy with my scores,” said Lascuna.
Leading second round scores
134 – Daniel Chopra (SWE) 68-66
135 – Chapchai Nirat (THA) 68-67
136 – David Lipsky (USA) 63-73, Antonio Lascuna (PHI) 68-68, Unho Park (KOR) 65-71, S.S.P. Chowrasia (IND) 67-69,
137 – Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 66-71 , Shiv Kapur 67-70, Angelo Que (PHI) 67-70, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 68-69 , Felipe Aguilar (CHI) 67-70
138 – Baek Seuk-hyun (KOR) 66-72, Joonas Granberg (FIN) 72-66, Marcus Fraser (AUS) 70-68 , Masanori Kobayashi (JPN) 71-67 , Gavin Kyle Green (A) 70-68
