Incheon [KOREA]: Gavin Kyle Green trails the Korean trio of Kyungnam Kang, Junsung Kim and Seungtaek Lee by one at the halfway stage of the Shinhan Donghae Open on Friday.

Overnight leaders Kang and Kim carded matching two-under-par 69s while Lee moved into the share of the lead by returning with a 67 at the KRW1.2 billion (approximately US$1.06 million) event, which is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Korean PGA.

Malaysian hope Green will be hoping to break the Korean stronghold as he fired a four-under 67 to sit alone in fourth with a two-day total of seven-under-par 135.

Ben Leong – the other Malaysian in the field –  also stayed in hunt, matching his compatriot’s effort to move into joint ninth on four-under 138.

Having started the day tied for seventh, Green remains upbeat of his chances as he took advantage of his booming drives to surge ahead at the wind-swept Bear’s Best Cheongna Golf Club.

“Definitely very happy as the conditions were really tough today. The winds were blowing very strongly when we teed off and pretty much stayed that way throughout the round. But I stayed really patient. I missed a couple of short putts but didn’t get frustrated,” said Green, who has enjoyed three top-10 results, including two runner-up finishes in India and Chinese Taipei this year.

“The eagle on 14 helped and I made a nice birdie on 18 to finish at -7. I’ve been hitting several good drives out there and if I can continue that way, hopefully good things can happen. I’m not going to be overly aggressive but I’m going to pull out driver on a lot of holes and try to take out the par-fives. I’m definitely not holding back on that