Langkawi: Scotsman James Byrne of Scotland shot a superb seven-under-par 65 to take a commanding five-shot lead at the halfway point of Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) LADA Langkawi Masters on Friday.
Byrne, who won the PGM CCM Rahman Putra Masters in February, traded nine birdies against two bogeys for 15-under-par 129 to lead Canadian Lindsay Renolds at the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) Asian Development Tour (ADT) co-sanctioned event.
Overnight leader Nils Floren of Sweden shot a 72 to slip back for a share of third place with Japan’s Mitsuhiko Hashizume (67) on 135, six shots behind Byrne.
R. Nachimuthu and defending Merit champion Nicholas Fung were the best-placed locals, tied with five others on seven-under 137.
The powerful Byrne snared 17 birdies in his opening two rounds at the Gunung Raya Golf Resort but he will not take his impressive lead for granted.
“I’m just focusing and playing one shot at a time. I think my scores reflect how focussed and relaxed I’m. When you are not playing well you tend to get stressed out and anxious. Being stress free is definitely the key to why I’ve been playing so well,” said Byrne.
The 23-year-old struggled off the tees but made amends with a hot putter. “I putted really well but it was a bad ball striking day because I missed a bit of fairways. Evidently you can make a lot of birdies and if I stay in the process then I think I can hit another few low rounds.”
Renolds, currently fifth on the ADT Order of Merit, was delighted to be in contention heading into the weekend rounds as he aims to win his first ADT title and boost his position on the Official World Golf Rankings.
“At the start of the year I was ranked about a 1000 over in the world and now I’m in 788th position. That’s the best part about the ADT because it gives you world ranking points. If you play a minimum of 10 events and if you have six top-five results, you can easily get a better ranking,” said Renolds.
The halfway cut was set at one-over-par 145 with 55 players heading into the last two rounds.
Leading second round scores
129 – James Byrne (SCO) 64-65
134 – Lindsay Renolds (CAN) 69-65
135 – Nils Floren (SWE) 63-72, Mitsuhiko Hashizume (JPN) 68-67
136 – Malcolm Kokocinski (SWE) 64 72, Hsieh Tung-shu (TPE) 68-68, Wasin Sripattranusorn (THA) 67-69
137 – R. Nachimuthu 70-67, Lam Chih Bing (SIN) 70-67, Ian Keenan (ENG) 70-67, Anthony Kang (USA) 67-70, Lee Shih-hung (TPE) 68-69, Nicholas Fung 66-71, Jakraphan Premsirigorn (THA) 73-64
138 – David Palm (SWE) 70-68, Yang Fei-hao (TPE) 70-68
