Hot Jazz storms into lead in Sarawak
Thai trio Pavit, Danthai and Sadom share fifth position in the Asian Tour event
>> KUCHING: Jazz Janewattananond put himself in prime position for a fifth Asian Tour win after posting a solid eight-under-par 64 to grab a one-shot advantage at the halfway stage of the Sarawak Championship in Malaysia yesterday.
The 23-year-old Thai, who has already won twice this season, sparkled with a flawless round highlighted by eight birdies to sit atop the leaderboard with a 15-under-129 total at the Damai Golf and Country Club.
The Philippines’ Miguel Tabuena, who played alongside Jazz, also kept the blemishes off his card as he signed for a second straight 65 to share second place with Taiwan’s Hung Chien-yao (66) and Australian Andrew Dodt (64) in the Asian Tour event.
Dodt, a two-time Asian Tour winner, got off to a sizzling start with an eagle on the 10th hole followed by four successive birdies from 11 before turning in 30.
The 33-year-old Australian is playing in his first event since suffering a two-month injury lay-off in April.
Thai trio Pavit Tangkamolprasert, Danthai Boonma and Sadom Kaewkanjana shared fifth place on matching 133s following respective rounds of 65, 66 and 67.
“It was a pretty solid round. I holed a lot of putts, missed some as well but overall, it was good. You just have to go out there and try your best. Every part of the game was pretty solid. My driver wasn’t as great but I got away with it,” said Jazz.
“All the birdies today were pretty similar. Nothing stood out really. The greens are better this year and we were able to roll in more putts out there today. It was nice playing alongside Scott Hend and Miguel Tabuena as well.
“Scott made a good comeback with two closing birdies. It was fun to watch him fight back. It’s going to be the same tomorrow — just focus on hitting fairways and greens and we’ll see how it goes.”
Tabuena said: “I took my fitness more seriously the last two months
and I’ve been going to the gym about four times a week. I think I have gained some distance. It’s more about injury prevention stuff. I got injured about three months ago and I was out for a month and that cost me a lot of tournaments.”
LEADING SECOND ROUND SCORES
(par-72)
129 Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 65-64 130 Hung Chien-yao (TPE) 64-66, Andrew Dodt (AUS) 66-64, Miguel Tabuena (PHI) 65-65 133 Pavit Tangkamolprasert (THA) 68-65, Sadom Kaewkanjana (THA) 66-67, Danthai Boonma (THA) 67-66.
134 Nicholas Latimer (USA) 66-68, Scott Vincent (ZIM) 68-66, Richard T Lee (CAN) 66-68, Micah Lauren Shin (USA) 69-65, Lloyd Jefferson Go (PHI) 69-65, Mardan Mamat (SIN) 68-66, Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 66-68, Trevor Simsby (USA) 66-68