Westwood wows Thailand, Charl second
Lee Westwood followed his career-best 12-under 60 with a 64 on Friday to take a commanding 11-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Thailand Golf Championship.
The Englishman had eight birdies in his second straight bogey-free round at Amata Spring Country Club to reach 20 under overall.
Westwood had 10 birdies and an eagle in the first round on Thursday.
"Today almost felt better than yesterday," Westwood said. "It was quite tough out there. The scoring is pretty tricky."
Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa had a 66 on Friday to lie second on 9 under alongside Michael Thompson of the United States.
John Daly followed his opening-round 65 with a 1-over 73 to slip back to fourth at 6 under, 14 shots adrift of the leader.
With two rounds remaining, Westwood is within sight of Ernie Els' record winning margin on the Asian Tour. Els won the 2005 Asian Open by 13 shots.
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"I'll try to keep the lead irrelevant and keep on playing as I've been playing," Westwood said. "I'm playing pretty well and I want to maintain that and keep making birdies and no bogeys."
Schwartzel eagled the 15th and had six birdies but bogeyed the 8th and 12th. He acknowledged that he only has a slim chance of catching Westwood.
"I feel like Lee is playing his own tournament and we are playing something else," he said. "Halfway through it now, I still feel like I've got a very outside chance."
British Open champion Darren Clarke, Sergio Garcia of Spain and Ryo Ishikawa of Japan all narrowly made the cut at 3 over but Thailand's top-ranked player Thongchai Jaidee retired after 13 holes Friday because of a back injury.
LEADING SECOND-ROUND SCORES
124 – Lee Westwood 60 64
135 – Michael Thompson 69 66, Charl Schwartzel 69 66
138 – John Daly 65 73
139 – Gregory Bourdy 68 71, Miles Tunnicliff 70 69, Gaganjeet Bhullar 70 69, Simon Dyson 69 70, Kenichi Kuboya 72 67, Jeev Milkha Singh 71 68
140 – Guido Van Der Valk 71 69, Lu Chien-Soon 69 71, Prom Meesawat 72 68, Kwanchai Tannin 69 71
141 – Charley Hoffman 71 70, Frankie Minoza 72 69, Thaworn Wiratchant 68 73, Chinnarat Phadungsil 72 69, Daisuke Maruyama 73 68
142 – Panuwat Muenlek 70 72, Jonathan Moore 73 69, Alex Cejka 71 71
143 – Quincy Quek 74 69, Tetsuji Hiratsuka 71 72, Scott Barr 72 71, Park Hyun-Bin 71 72, Jyoti Randhawa 73 70, Rikard Karlberg 72 71, Kim Kyung-Tae 73 70, Lam Zhiqun 70 73, Scott Hend 69 74
144 – Zhang Lian-Wei 73 71, Chawalit Plaphol 73 71, Joonas Granberg 75 69, Kodai Ichihara 69 75, Thanyakon Khrongpha 71 73, Michael Tran 73 71, Kunal Bhasin 73 71, Miguel Tabuena 74 70, Jbe Kruger 69 75, Chris Rodgers 69 75, Lee Sung 70 74
145 – Mark Brown 72 73, Tanatchant Puaktes 72 73, Sattaya Supupramai 71 74, Atthaphon Prathummanee 71 74, Digvijay Singh 75 70, Mars Pucay 72 73, Marcus Both 72 73, Thorbjorn Olesen 72 73, Adam Groom 69 76, Prayad Marksaeng 71 74, Michio Matsumura 75 70, Tim Stewart 70 75
146 – Pelle Edberg 72 74, Himmat Rai 77 69, Antonio Lascuna 69 77, Ben Leong 74 72, Daisuke Kataoka 73 73, Keith Horne 71 75, Stephen Dodd 75 71, Pavit Tangkamolprasert 74 72, Berry Henson 75 71
147 – Romain Wattel 75 72, Lu Wei-Chih 74 73, Sergio Garcia 76 71, Kiradech Aphibarnrat 72 75, Rick Gibson 72 75, Darren Clarke 71 76, Kim Hyung-Sung 75 72, Hirotaro Naito 77 70, Tommy Fleetwood 70 77, Rahil Gangjee 72 75, Ryo Ishikawa 70 77
Report Day 1