Jakarta, December 14: Thailand’s Poom Saksansin believed he got lucky on the golf course when he broke his personal best record at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club with a flawless nine-under-par 63 to take the second round lead at the the BNI Indonesian Masters presented by Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), PT.Lautan Luas.Tbk and Bank Mandiri on Friday.

The second round of the BNI Indonesian Masters was suspended due to fading light at 5.50pm on Friday before resuming on Saturday morning. A total of 66 players made the halfway cut set at even-par 144.

The 25-year-old Poom, who won the Indonesian Masters in 2016, emerged as the man to catch after compiling a two-day total of 14-under-par 130 in the morning to take a three-shot lead over compatriots Suradit Yongcharoenchai and Jakraphan Premsirigorn who signed for a 66 and 65 respectively at the US$750,000 Asian Tour season-ender.

Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha)

Henrik Stenson’s hopes of closing the gap with Poom were dashed when he dropped two shots in his last four holes to head into the weekend rounds five shots back of Poom in outright fourth place.

Since his breakthrough at the Indonesian Masters in 2016, Poom has gone on to secure another Asian Tour title in India the following year. The Thai is now seeking to win a title every year and is on course to achieving that at the final Asian Tour event of the year.

Jakraphan meanwhile found the form that led him to a tied-second finish in Pakistan two months ago by firing eight birdies against a lone bogey on 11 to surge into contention and bringing back that much-needed confidence.

Jakraphan Premsirigorn (Tha)

Suradit, who finished in a share of second place, five shots behind Poom when the latter won the Indonesian Masters in 2016, is hoping to get the better of his countryman when the weekend rounds begin.

Defending champion Justin Rose of England remains six shots back of Poom after he signed for a 68. Rose had to return early this morning to complete his remaining four holes from his disrupted first round.

He dropped two shots in his closing three holes to sign for a 68 and after an hour’s rest, the world number two went back to the tee and would go on to mark his card with six birdies and two bogeys for another 68 to share fifth place with Australia’s Josh Younger and Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat.

Did you know?

• Poom Saksansin’s previous lowest round at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club was a 65, recorded during the third round of the Indonesian Masters in 2016.
• He is currently in 29th place on the Habitat for Humanity standings and has enjoyed four top-10s this year including a runner-up finish in Thailand Open.
• Poom found 10 fairways and missed only two greens today. He needed only 25 putts for his superb round of 63. He has only dropped one shot so far this week.
• Jakraphan Premsirigorn earned his Tour card from Qualifying School this year. He missed the cut in six straight events before finishing tied-second in Pakistan in October.
• Jakraphan has won once on the Asian Development Tour and finished tied-third at Qualifying School this year.
• Suradit Yongcharoenchai finished tied-second behind Poom Saksansin when he made his debut at the Indonesian Masters in 2016. He posted a tied-17th result in 2017.
• Suradit has finished inside the top-five three times this year and is currently in 34th place on the Habitat for Humanity standings.
• Henrik Stenson is the first male Swedish Major champion, having won the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon.
• He is ranked 27th in the world this week but reached a career high of second place on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) in 2014.
• Stenson won the silver medal, finishing two shots behind gold medalist Justin Rose at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
• Nicknamed ‘Iceman’ for his demeanour, Stenson is playing in Indonesia for the first time in his career.

Players’ Quotes

Poom Saksansin (Tha) Second round 63 (-9) Total, 130 (-14)

The aim is just to keep playing under-par. This is not an easy course for me. I was just lucky today. I think I like this course. I won here before two years ago. My putting was very good today. My iron-play was good too but my iron-play was the best. I missed two birdies on the second and ninth holes today actually. But otherwise, I managed to make birdies in all the opportunities that I gave myself today. I hope I can continue to play like how I did today but it will be tough. I will just keep playing and stick to my strategy and routine and see how it goes. My putting was key today, really. My driver was not too bad. Just managed to hit a few good ones coming back.  At the start of the year, my target was to keep my card on the Asian Tour first. So next year I can still have tournaments to play. After I retained my card, I went to try and play on the Japan Tour. I didn’t keep my card there and had to go back to Qualifying School.

Jakraphan Premsirigorn (Tha) Second round 65 (-7), Total 133 (-11)

I’m playing on this golf course for the first time and to be able to post a 65 today is a really good achievement. It’s refreshing to see yourself able to play well especially when I missed so many cuts this year. I made some swing changes and I’m feeling a lot better physically now. Doing well in Pakistan also brought back a lot of confident. Maybe that’s why I’m doing okay this week. I played 24 holes today and I told myself to just stay relaxed and hydrated.

Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha) Second round 66 (-6) Total 133 (-11)

I’m hoping to do better than what I did in 2016. I’m feeling very good about my game. I drove the ball very well and managed to find most of the fairways. My iron-play was very satisfying too. It helped I putted well too. It has been a long day for me as I had to complete four holes from my first round. The weather is very hot here and it’s very important to know how to take care of your body. I had a good season this year. Although I did not win, I had some good results in India and Pakistan this year. But I may have a chance to win this week.

Henrik Stenson (Swe)

Henrik Stenson (Swe) Second round 68 (-4), Total 135 (-9)

It started off with nice conditions. I got a great start, I birdied one, two and three. Had a couple of chances and birdied nine. I hit the turn in four under which was great. I hit two really nice shots on 11 and 12 which set up short birdie putts that I made so it was great. But when we came to the 10th it started blowing and it got worse and worse and it was a bit strange we had the thunderstorm hanging around and the wind was bumping like that, but it never got to us, which I think for the score it was bad. Would have been better to get off the course and finish better.  We had to play in the weather we had and it was tough. I hit a couple of poor iron shots in the gusty conditions.  I don’t know how much it was blowing, maybe 20 or 30 mph. The last six or seven holes were really tough, I dropped two shots. I am little disappointed in that but overall we are in a decent position.  I prefer to be three back rather than five back.

Justin Rose (Eng)

Justin Rose (Eng) Second round 68 (-4), Total 136 (-8)

For sure today it was a struggle early in my round. I was one over par through eight holes. It was a bit more windy today. Today was tough to make birdies, I wasn’t quite on my game.

I kind of bounced back pretty well. I birdied 18, my ninth hole, then had four more birdies on the front. Just the three putt on 18 (for par) was the problem. Made things not taste quite as good. At three under par I did not think I was quite in the tournament so it was nice to get myself to eight under and get myself into the tournament. I tend to play the front nine here better than the back nine anyway. I knew I had some chances coming. That is the way it proved to be again today. This is definitely a tough finish to the year everyone is starting to think about holiday time and put their feet up. But there is a lot on my mind this week, there is always something to play for. It is keeping me focused keeping me hungry. Sometimes you have to win to get to number one … it is an easier equation. My goal now is to play free golf at the weekend and chase the leader.