THAILAND’S Namuangruk Kammalas gambled and lost on a key shot but recovered to salvage a 71 and gain a share of the clubhouse lead with three Taiwanese halfway through the Daan Taiwan Professional Golfers Association (TLPGA) Open at the Ching Chuan Kang Golf Club in Taichung, Taiwan, on Friday.
The weather considerably improved after a rainy on Thursday with half of the starting 144-player field completing their first round play early yesterday, including Kammalas, who gunned down three birdies in his remaining 11 holes to shoot a 68 for joint sixth, just two strokes behind joint leaders Wang Tsung-Chieh and Tseng Tzu-Hao of Taiwan.
With Wang and Tseng barely starting their second round play at press time, Kammalas, 27, took the provisional top spot at 139 with locals Lu Chien-Soon, Hung Chien-Yao and Wen Chang-Hsian, who carded 69, 71 and 72, respectively.
Starting off at the backside of the military layout, the Bangkok native actually went six-under with back-to-back birdies from No. 13 then bucked a double-bogey on the par-five 16th with birdies on Nos. 18 and 1. After a run of pars, he cracked a solid drive on the 530-yard No. 7, another par-5 hole that left him with just 280 yards into the wind for his second shot. He opted for a driver and overshot the green.
Out of bounds. He wound up with a bogey and missed seizing the solo lead.
“I just felt I could do it since I was coming off two birdies linking the nines,” said Kammalas, who placed joint third in his pro debut in the kickoff leg of the Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) Asia’s third season at Luisita last month.
Lu, meanwhile, used a strong backside start of three birdies in the first five holes to fashion out a 36-33, Hung broke a slew of backside pars and overcame a bogey on the sixth with two birdies in the last three, the same finish dished out by Wen as the locals stayed on course on defending their turf against the PGT Asia bets in the $100,000 championship put up by ICTSI and co-organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.
Jay Bayron, who groped for form with a 38 before play was stopped due to darkness on Thursday, hit two birdies at resumption to save a 72. But with hardly a rest, the lone Filipino entry in the first PGT Asia event overseas struggled and lost steam, fumbling with three bogeys against two birdies to finish with a 73.
From joint 38th after 18 holes, the Davaoeño ace fell to a provisional share of 49th with a one-over 145 total with the cutoff (top 50 plus ties) pegged at even par with still a number of players still to complete their second-round play.
“Sayang. I was feeling good after completing my first round. But I missed a number of greens and putts at resumption,” said Bayron, who birdied Nos. 13 and 15 to go even par after the first round.
He actually birdied the par-five 13th for the second time but bogeyed the next and dropped two more strokes on Nos. 3 and 6 before birdying the seventh. He also flubbed a birdie putt from close range on the ninth.