Karachi, Pakistan, October 12: Jakraphan Premsirigorn shook off his wrist injury and carded a four-under-par 68 to grab a share of the lead at the UMA CNS Open Golf Championship on Friday.

The 26-year-old Jakraphan played flawlessly over his opening nine holes highlighted by four birdies before cruising to a seven-under-par 137 total at the historic Karachi Golf Club.

Joining him at the pinnacle of a Thai-dominated leaderboard are compatriots with compatriots Suradit Yongcharoenchai and Namchok Tantipokhakul.

Suradit Yongcharoenchai of Thailand

Suradit’s hunt for his maiden Asian Tour title is on track. After a starting his day with a string of pars, his round kick-started after sinking three-consecutive birdies from holes seven to nine. Suradit made two more birdies and a lone bogey before signing for a 68.

Namchok’s driving woes continue in the second round as he has only hit half seven out of 14 fairways. He wasn’t able to rely on his putts today but was still able to card a 70 to finish tied-first at the halfway stage of the US$300,000 event.

Pawin Ingkhapradit of Thailand and Pakistan’s Muhammad Munir are in tied-fourth after carding 70 and 69 respectively.

Another Thai, Tirawat Kawesiribandit, is in lone sixth after ending his day with a 69.

Eight players, including Singaporeans Mitchell Slorach and Koh Deng Shan, as well as Bangladeshi Siddikur Rahman are in tied-eight.

Danny Masrin of Indonesia carded a flawless 66, the lowest score of the morning session. He was able to sustain his forward momentum throughout the entire day after a challenging par save at the start of his round on 10th.

The cut line was set at four-over-par. 74 players will progress to the weekend rounds.

Did you know:

• Jakraphan Premsirigorn earned an Asian Tour card for the 2018 season by finishing tied-third at the Qualifying School.
• His season has turned around at the UMA CNS Open Championship. Before this tournament in Pakistan, he missed the cut six times in his last six starts on the Asian Tour.
• He won once on the ADT, at the 2013 PGM MNRB Sarawak Masters.
• Suradit Yongcharoenchai is currently placed 47th on the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings after earning $81,878 this season.
• He narrowly missed out on his maiden Asian Tour title at the 2016 Indonesian Masters and 2018 TAKE Solutions Masters. He was tied-second on both tournaments.
• Namchok Tantipokhakul’s career-best ranking on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) is 317th.
• He has 10 top-10 finishes on the Asian Tour, with the most recent one at the Asian Golf Championship in China where he was placed tied-seventh.
• Pawin Ingkhapradit was placed tied-13th at the Thailand Open, his highest finish this season.
• Siddikur Rahman has won twice on the Asian Tour. He was victorious at the 2010 Brunei Open and the 2013 Hero Indian Open.
• Koh Deng Shan is looking at a career breakthrough this week. He has yet to finish within the top-10 on the Asian Tour.
• Danny Masrin has found success on the Asian Development Tour this year. He posted two top-10s in his last six starts on Asian Tour’s secondary circuit.

Players’ quotes

Jakraphan Premsirigorn (Tha) – Second round 68 (-4), total 137 (-7)

It feels great to be in this position, especially so after coming back from my wrist injury. I was out for four months after getting my Tour card. I missed all my cuts this year because I wasn’t ready, but now I’m 80, or even 100 per cent.

I’ve putted well today. If you miss your tee shot here, you’ll get problems. I was flawless over the first nine and I thought I played well in the second nine, just that the putts didn’t go in.

I’m going to focus and have fun with the Thai players who will also be on my flight.

Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha) – Second round 68 (-4), total 137 (-7)

It’s a good day today. My putting is coming back, but I still have to work on my driving. Hopefully, everything comes together tomorrow and Sunday.

I struck the ball very well on the last three holes of my first nine. I hit it quite close to the pin on holes seven and eight. On hole nine, I made a 15-feet putt for birdie. That was the highlight of my round.

I’m still on target for a victory, and I hope to win this week. I’m in a great position and I’m just going to focus on my game. If I can putt like I did yesterday and today, I will surely stand a chance of winning.

Namchok Tantipokhakul (Tha) – Second round 70 (-2), total 137 (-7)

I thought that I didn’t drive well today. I still managed to hit many greens, but my putting wasn’t great. It was pretty good yesterday as I managed to sink eight birdies, but because of my poor putting, I scored only three birdies today.

I didn’t manage to score any birdies on the par-fives, which was disappointing.

Nevertheless, I can’t be upset about heading into the weekend rounds with a share of the lead. I’m looking forward to my game tomorrow as I’ll be teeing off with fellow Thai players. As long as somebody from Thailand wins this tournament, I’ll be very happy.

Pawin Ingkharadit (Tha) – Second round 70 (-2), total 138 (-6)

Everything was pretty satisfactory today, except my putting. On the last hole, I missed a two-feet putt for par. But what I’m most happy about was my approach play. I hit 16 greens.

Somehow, I just couldn’t get around hitting my short putts today. I hope that the situation will change tomorrow and Sunday.

I do feel a bit of pressure as I’m in a good position, but I’ll try to keep my focus and play to my best ability.

Siddikur Rahman (Ban) – Second round 70 (-2), total 141 (-3)

I’m excited and looking forward to playing in the weekend rounds. I’m playing the way I want to play in my first two rounds here in Pakistan.

Before coming to Pakistan over the last couple of weeks, I had put a lot of expectations on myself and I played aggressively. That was not working. So, I’ve decided to play the way I used to play, which is to focus on keeping the ball on the fairways and be humble on the course.

Koh Deng Shan (Sgp) – Second round 71 (-1), total 141 (-3)

I’m happy with my round. Here, you must keep the ball in play in order to have a chance as the greens are very tricky. So being on the fairway really helps with the approach shots. Coming out from the rough makes it difficult to control your ball.

I got off to a good start as I hit a few good iron shots. I putted well on the front nine. The back nine as well, just that I read the wrong lines.

Conversely, I started the first round shakily. I played too aggressively and when that didn’t work, I told myself to be more conservative and just wait for the birdies. Hopefully I can keep it going for the next two days.

Danny Masrin (Ina) – Second round 66 (-6), total 143 (-1)

I’ve been trying to hit fades and draws in my first round and after that, I went to the driving range and simply focused on fading the ball.

At the first hole, I hit it into the trees, punched out and made a par save. After that I started hitting a lot of greens, made a few long putts and many par saves to keep the momentum. Everything just went my way. I’m very happy to go bogey-free today.

Essentially, I kept it simple. Here, you have to commit to your shots and lines as you can’t see where your balls are landing.

Scores after round 2 of the UMA CNS Open Golf Championship being played at the par 72, 7032 Yards Karachi GC course (am – denotes amateur):
137 – Suradit YONGCHAROENCHAI (THA) 69-68, Jakraphan PREMSIRIGORN (THA) 69-68, Namchok TANTIPOKHAKUL (THA) 67-70.
138 – Pawin INGKHAPRADIT (THA) 68-70, Muhammad MUNIR (PAK) 69-69.
140 – Tirawat KAEWSIRIBANDIT (THA) 71-69.
141 – Mitchell SLORACH (SIN) 72-69, Siddikur RAHMAN (BAN) 71-70, KOH Deng Shan (SIN) 70-71, Ahmad BAIG (am, PAK) 67-74, Muhammad SHABBIR (PAK) 68-73, Settee PRAKONGVECH (THA) 72-69, Suttijet KOORATANAPISAN (THA) 71-70, James Ryan LAM (PHI) 68-73.
142 – Honey BAISOYA (IND) 68-74, Matloob AHMED (PAK) 72-70, M. Safdar KHAN (PAK) 73-69, Peradol PANYATHANASEDH (THA) 76-66, Aman RAJ (IND) 75-67, Dilshad ALI (PAK) 70-72.
143 – Piya SWANGARUNPORN (THA) 71-72, Pasavee LERTVILAI (THA) 73-70, Danny MASRIN (INA) 77-66, LIU Yanwei (CHN) 74-69, Muhammad NAEEM (PAK) 71-72, Gregory FOO (SIN) 73-70, Nirun SAE-UENG (THA) 70-73, Manuel TRAPPEL (AUT) 72-71.