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| November 16, 2002 | Saturday | Ramazan 10, 1423 |
Super Thai roars into three-stroke lead
DONGGUAN, China, Nov 15: Former Thai soldier Thongchai Jaidee’s red hot putter gave him a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the US$1m CL Classic Friday as American John Daly crashed out in spectacular fashion.
Pre-tournament favourite Colin Montgomerie shot a solid four-under-par 68 to lie just three shots behind Thongchai, who carded a superb five-under-par 67.
Joining Monty at four under were American Bob May, Hendrik Buhrmann, South Korean first round leader Ted Oh and former European number one Lee Westwood.
However Daly crashed out after racking up a horrendous 10 at the par-five 572 yard 14th hole en route to a horrendous 80 to finish at six-over par for his two rounds and miss the halfway cut by two shots.
Playing in the group behind Daly, Montgomerie was suffering from jetlag and the scorching heat, but unlike the American, kept his cool when it mattered.
After dropping a shot on the fifth hole, Monty hit back immediately with a three-iron second to the par-five seventh that nearly hit the flagstick.
A solid finish to his round kept the Scot, seeking back-to-back wins
after sharing the Volvo Masters last week, well in the hunt.
Daly meanwhile had embarked on a rollercoaster first 13 holes in the second round, mixing huge drives with poor iron shots, when he arrived at the reachable 14th hole at level par.
His woes began when his three-wood tee shot landed in the water guarding the right hand side of the fairway.
Thai star Thongchai had started the tournament lacking confidence after enduring a difficult year divided between the Japanese tour and the Davidoff Tour.
However, after visiting his coach last week, the former Thai paratrooper has battled back to rediscover some of the form that made him last year’s Davidoff tour number one with record winnings of more than 350,000 US dollars.
Thongchai is competing in his 36 event of the year and currently lies 15th in the Davidoff order of merit with 71,714 US dollars in winnings. However, the US$161,450 first prize on offer this week would lift him into first place.
Second round scores:
135 - Thongchai Jaidee 68-67
138 - Bob May 71-67, Hendrik Buhrman 70-68, Ted Oh 67-71, Colin Montgomerie 70-68, Lee Westwood 68-70
139 - Rashid Ismail 72-67, Rick Gibson 69-70, Andrew Coltart 71-68
140 - Kyi Hla Han 70-70, Wang Ter-chang 69-71, Craig Kamps 70-70, Paul McGinley 71-69, Prayad Marksaeng 69-71, Zhang Lian-wei 70-70, Charlie Wi 68-72, Danny Zarate 69-71
141 - Gerald Rosales 68-73, Ted Purdy 70-71, Carlos Franco 73-68, Somkiart Srisanga, Jon Levitt, Chung Joon 68-73, Zaw Moe 68-73, Stephen Lindskog 71-70
142 - Fran Quinn 71-71, Tang Jin-chang 73-69, Thammanoon Sriroj 71-71
143 - Simon Yates 71-72, Jyoti 70-73, Des Terblanche 73-70, Chawalit Plaphol 71-72, Rafael Ponce 70-73—AFP
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