KUALA LUMPUR: Nicholas Fung kept up the pace to trail Asian Tour stalwart Thaworn Wiratchant by a stroke at the halfway stage of the Queen’s Cup on Friday.
An inspired back nine return of four birdies saw the bespectacled Malaysian notch a three-under 68 for an eight-under 134 total in the US$500,000 Asian Tour event.
Danny Chia carded a 68 of his own to sit in joint 13th on five-under 137 while Gavin Kyle Green, the country’s top ranked player on the Asian Tour, managed a one-over 72 to safely make the weekend on even-par.
With three wins to his belt at the picturesque Santiburi Samui Country Club, 50-year-old Thaworn hit a glorious back nine 28 en-route to an eight-under-par 63 and the halfway lead.
After turning in one under with two birdies and one bogey, the double Asian Tour number one rolled in seven birdies, including four-in-a-row from the 10th hole to equal his best round at Samui.
Fung admitted that he was just trying to stay in touch with his playing partner Thaworn, who once again rolled back the year with a mesmerizing putting display.
“It was windy on the front nine and I just tried to keep the ball in play all the time and make some putts. It worked okay. I was playing with Thaworn and I was just trying to learn from him and tried to put my ball near his ball so that I could read his lines. It’s amazing, I couldn’t believe he shot 28 on the back nine,” said the 27-year-old, who is chasing a maiden Asian Tour title.
Despite a good run last year when he finished seventh and a T12 in 2013, Fung doesn’t want to get ahead of himself yet as he seeks to build on a strong start.
“I don’t want to think too much now that I’m in contention. I just want to play good golf and not think about winning.”
