Alor Setar [KEDAH]: Khor Kheng Hwai continued to set the pace at the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Darulaman Championship despite his overnight lead being trimmed to two shots.

The 31-year-old carded a one-under 71 that left him with an eight-under 136 total in the penultimate event of the season at Darulaman Golf & Country Club.

Birthday boy Iylia Jamil moved up to second in the standings with a four-under-par 68, while R. Nachimuthu shot a 69 that gave him third spot on five-under 139.

Akhmal Tarmizee’s 70 took him to fourth on 140, and Kenneth De Silva (70) and Shahriffuddin Ariffin (72) also kept in touch with the lead as they moved on to three-under, another stroke back in fifth place.

Leading second round scores (Par-72)
136 – Khor Keng Hwai 65-71
138 – Iylia Jamil 70-68
139 – Nachimuthu Ramasamy 70-69
140 – Akhmal Tarmizee Nazari 70-70
141 – Kenneth De Silva 71-70, Shahriffuddin Ariffin 69-72
142 – Muhd Azry Asyraf 73-69, Tony Lam Kong Loong 69-73, Wilson Choo 71-71, Kim Leun Kwang 74-68
143 – Abel Tam 74-69, Kemarol Baharin 70-73

Khor, who achieved his breakthrough win on the Tour in home state of Penang in September, conceded that he found it a lot more difficult than yesterday when he opened with a near flawless 65.

“I started well,” he said, in reference to three birdies over the first three holes. “But then I somehow lost concentration and that cost me quite a bit.”

Khor had a bogey at the 7th hole and then another three in a row from the 13th hole.

“That was a really tough stretch,” he said. “But I managed to bounce back with birdies at the 16th and last hole, and that helped get me to under-par again for the round.”

Looking ahead he said: “I will go out tomorrow and just try and do the simple things right. Need to concentrate and play each hole on its merit. If I can do that I’ll have a chance of playing in the final flight on Saturday.”