Chapchai Nirat and Liang Wen-chong will both be hoping to end a six-year wait for their second European Tour victory after claiming the lead at the midway stage of the Avantha Masters.
Thai ace Nirat notched seven birdies and a solitary bogey in his round of 66, whilst Liang mixed eight gains with two dropped shots.
Both men moved to 12 under par at the Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort, in Greater Noida, near New Delhi, two strokes clear of Scotland’s David Drysdale (67), England’s Tommy Fleetwood (65), Finland’s Joonas Granberg (67) and Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol (68).
“I’ve played some of my best golf this week, and I managed to hole several long putts,” said Liang, whose sole European Tour victory came at the Singapore Masters in 2007.
“I’ve learnt to be patient, and my experience of playing all over the world has taught me well. There are two more rounds to go, and hopefully I can finish on top of the leaderboard like today.”
Nirat was quick to praise the performances of his fellow Thais, Plaphol and overnight leader Chinnarat Phadungsil, who rallied impressively after an outward nine of 40.
“We’ve got many good players from Thailand, as you can tell from the leaderboard,” said Nirat, who won the 2007 TCL Classic.
“Chawalit just won his fourth Asian Tour title in Myanmar, and we saw what Chinnarat can do yesterday. He didn’t repeat that performance today, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back during the weekend. This course also favours us as it’s long, and we’ve got many long hitters.”
Eight birdies in nine holes gave Phadungsil an inward 28 on the opening day, but he covered the same nine in 12 more shots on day two.
An inward 34 repaired some of the damage, but at nine under par he was down to a share of seventh place alongside five others, including the leading home hopes Abhijit Chadha and Rahil Gangjee.
Photo credited © Getty Images
