Rawang [SELANGOR]: Thai teenager Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng and Ruperto Zaragosa III of the Philippines stayed resilient in difficult scoring conditions to take a share of the halfway lead at the Malaysian Amateur Open presented by Vascory AG and ICE Mobile on Friday.
Nineteen-year-old Witchayanon, who goes by the nickname Zoom, fired a three-under 69 in the morning session before Zaragosa replied with a tidy two-under 70 for a three-under 141 overall at Templer Park Country Club.
Overnight leader Naraajie Emerald Ramadhanputra returned with a 73 to slip into third place with local hope Ervin Chang a further shot adrift on 143 after a one-over effort of his own.
An improved 71 saw seasoned campaigner Chan Tuck Soon remain in contention on level-par alongside Hong Kong’s Leon Philip D’Souza (71) and Chinese Taipei pair of Yuan-wei Lin (72) and Chi Huang (73).
In what is proving to be the closest fought MAO championship in recent years, only seven strokes separate the top-20 players.
Leading second round scores (Par-72)
Malaysian unless stated
141 – Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng (THA) 72-69, Ruperto Zaragosa III (PHI) 71-70
142 – Naarajie Emerald Ramadhanputra (INA) 69-73
143 – ERVIN CHANG 70-73
144 – Leon Philip D’Souza (HKG) 73-71, Yuan-Wei Lin (TPE) 72-72, CHAN TUCK SOON 73-71, Chi Huang (TPE) 71-73
146 – Napong Sriparsit (THA) 77-69, Lachlan Barker (AUS) 72-74, AMIR NAZRIN JAILANI 73-73, Ryan Monsalve (PHI) 74-72
147 – Runchanapong Youprayong (THA) 76-71, Humphrey Wong (HKG) 75-72, Abdul Hadi Uda Thith (SIN) 72-75, Joshua Shou (SIN) 72-75
148 – Wei-Hsuan Wang (TPE) 78-70, GALVEN KENDALL GREEN 78-70, RHAASRIKANESH KANAVATHI 75-73, Kevin Caesario Akhbar (INA) 72-76
149 – Josh Armstrong (AUS) 73-76, Ira Christian Alido (PHI) 72-77, Gregory Foo (SIN) 74-75, Andrew Schonewille (AUS) 72-77, Edgar Oh (SIN) 74-75, DANIAL DURISIC 73-76
Starting on the back nine, Zaragosa dropped two shots in his first three holes but what the Filipino number two lacked in stature was more than compensated by his fighting spirit.
The 18-year-old rallied with four birdies, including back-to-back gains on the eighth and ninth to put himself firmly in the hunt for his first win of the year.
“It was a pretty good round. The golf course is playing pretty long for a short-hitter like me but my short game and putting really stood out today. I made a couple of mistakes at the start but managed to finish strongly with back-to-back birdies, so I’m really pleased,” said the Laguna native.
Chang, who is aiming to be the first home champion since Gavin Kyle Green in 2012, started on a bright footing with a birdie on his opening tenth hole, followed by eight consecutive pars.
An error of judgement led to a bogey on the first before another dropped shot on the sixth saw the 17-year-old from Selangor settle for sole fourth, two off the pace.
“It was a tale of two nines really. Started really positive on the back nine, giving myself a lot of chances but missed three birdie chances, which would prove costly. Conceded a silly mistake right after the turn when I attempted a chip shot and was unlucky with the bounce but managed to get myself together. A bad tee-shot costs me the sixth hole and I tried to get back to even-par but the birdies weren’t yielding,” said Chang.
Templer Park’s firm and fast greens combined with tough pin positions put a premium on accurate approach shots, a point which has not gone unnoticed by the youngster.
“I have to improve on my ball-striking because my irons shots were either just short or over the greens today. It’s still wide open, so I’ve got to sharpen my approach game if I’m going to have any chance of winning.”
A total of 64 players advanced into the weekend rounds with the halfway cut coming at 12-over 156.
