Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant eagled his final hole to soar past Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts into the lead in the Enjoy Jakarta Standard Chartered Indonesia Open as thunderstorms again disrupted play.
Wiratchant made a three on the 524 yard ninth hole to post a second successive 63 and an impressive 14 under par total of 126 at the Cengkareng Golf Club, Jakarta, one clear of Colsaerts who equaled the previous day’s low rounds of 62.
Overnight leaders India’s Arjun Atwal and Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey have still to complete their second rounds but remain among the leaders on ten under par having completed 13 and nine holes respectively.
Hoey, the 2001 Amateur Champion who played on the same Walker Cup Team as Luke Donald, Nick Dougherty and Graeme McDowell, recovered from a bogey five at the second with birdies at the fourth, sixth and ninth holes to move to ten under par and a share of third place with the back nine to play.
Wiratchant, hoping to emulate the feat of compatriot Thongchai Jaidee with victory in one of the events jointly sanctioned by The European Tour and the Asian Tour, had an early birdie cancelled out by his only dropped shot, on the 14th, his fifth, but stormed home by covering the last ten holes in seven under par.
Colsaerts also enjoyed a birdie blitz with a round of nine birdies and just one bogey.
Of the two Ryder Cup players in action in Indonesia, Ireland’s Paul McGinley shot a second round 68 which left him just inside the cut mark on three under par after playing 23 holes during the day. Having played his last five holes of the first round in level par, he knew he needed to make some improvements and made a good start with a birdie on the 11th, his second, but then dropped three shots in his next five holes before recovering with four further birdies.
His Ryder Cup team-mate, Colin Montgomerie, was on the same mark with five holes to play when lightning brought players off the course for a second day at 5pm local time. Montgomerie needs to win in Indonesia to climb back into the World Top 50 and therefore qualify for the Masters Tournament.
