Birdie blitz puts Park in command
Welshman David Park hit eight birdies to take a one-shot lead after the second round of the Maybank Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.
Park, at 13 under par, leads home favourite Thongchai Jaidee and Thammanoon Srirot by one shot after a second-round 64.
The 30-year-old sank birdies on the third, fifth, eighth, 10th, 13th, 17th and 18th holes to take the lead from defending champion Jaidee, who first won the event in 2004 before retaining the title last year.
The Thai duo of Jaidee and Srirot currently at joint second at 12-under-132.
Jaidee posted a superb nine-under 63 to move into contention and sank a string of nine birdies.
According to the two-time Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, the course played easily due to the heavy downpour yesterday. The greens, however, were a different story. But although he found them to be pretty tricky and slow, he still managed to put on a pretty good show.
His countryman Srirot picked up seven birdies to card a seven-under-65 for the day for an identical 12-under-132 and admitted the course is very similar to his home course, not very long and with the same green speed.
One stroke behind the Thai duo is Danish player Soren Kjeldsen who carded a brilliant nine-under 63 for two-day total of 11-under 133. After posting three birdies in his 70-stroke round yesterday Kjeldsen improved in the second round without dropping a shot.
Malaysia’s top professional Danny Chia gave the home crowd something to cheer about when he posted a credible five-under 67 for a two-day total of seven-under 137 and the ninth spot on the leaderboard.
First-round leader Miguel Angel Jimenez shot a disastrous second-round 77 to finish day two on 141.
Jimenez, who was feeling fatigued, found his shots going haywire and simply could not get the birdies in this time.
Play was suspended again when another severe lightning storm with a heavy downpour hit the area. Most of the morning session players with the exception of six competitors had finished their second round. All of the afternoon session players are still in various stages of play.
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