Anders Hansen has been encouraged by his quick return to form following a wrist injury after his impressive comeback continued with a six under par 66 in the second round of The Championship at Laguna National.
The Dane is just two shots behind the leader Panuphol Pittayarat of Thailand, who birdied his final hole to move to 13 under par.
Hansen would have made it a four-way tie for second place, along with Scott Hend, Felipe Aguilar and David Lipsky, had it not been for a three-putt bogey on the ninth green, his final hole of the day.
But the three-time European Tour winner was delighted with his display after missing six months of competition due to surgery on his wrist at the end of 2013.
He missed the cut on his comeback in his first two events back, the NH Collection Open and the Maybank Malaysian Open, but finished tied fifth last week in the Volvo China Open, closing with a superb 63.
Hansen appears to be carrying that form on in Singapore, shaving a stroke off his opening round of 67 courtesy of seven birdies in the second round to sit in contention going into the weekend at Laguna National Golf & Country Club.
“It’s always hard coming back after an injury,” he said. “I’ve never had six months off before so I didn’t know what to expect. It was tough the first four rounds I played, the first two in Spain and Malaysia, but then last week something kicked in and it has carried on this week.
“I’m really pleased with how I played. Last week was really good for me. Being away for six months wasn’t great but the last two weeks I’ve played well and my putting has been better, except for that last hole.
“I’m pleased to get back playing so well so quickly. I’m hitting the ball well and I’m hitting it close and making some easy birdies and giving myself a lot of chances.
“You’ve got to make some putts over the weekend. I’ve putted well for two days now and I need to keep it up over the weekend.”
Coincidentally, co-leader Aguilar has also been battling a wrist problem sustained in a mountain biking accident, but he showed few symptoms of the problem with a five under par 67.
“Having a bad wrist must mean you play well,” joked the Chilean. “My wrist is doing really good. It doesn’t bother me much, but I still have pain. It will be there for the next four or five months according to the doctor. I’m actually doing mountain biking even more now.
“When I play golf I really look forward to riding a bike, and when I ride a bike I look forward to playing golf, so they complement each other pretty well. It’s my hobby. Everything you do is dangerous so you have to be careful, but I think I’m playing good golf because I’m happy and so the mountain biking helps.”
